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Trichomonas vaginalis serostatus and prostate cancer risk in Egypt: a case-control study

  • Immunology and Host-Parasite Interactions - Original Paper
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Abstract

Trichomonas vaginalis is one of the most common non-viral sexually transmitted infections (STIs) that has been associated with prostate cancer in some countries. This study aims to investigate if T. vaginalis infection can be a risk factor for prostate cancer in Egypt and its possible relationship with cancer prognostic factors and overall survival. Serum samples were collected from a total of 445 age-matched males; 126 with prostate cancer, 108 with bladder cancer, 91 with different types of cancers, and 120 healthy controls, and then analyzed by ELISA for detection of anti-Trichomonas IgG and prostate-specific antigen (PSA). The results revealed that only 8.3% of controls were seropositive for trichomoniasis, compared with 19% of prostate cancer patients (P = 0.015). There were positive associations between the levels of PSA and tumor stage with T. vaginalis IgG optical density scores among the seropositive cases (P < 0.001 and < 0.05, respectively). However, no significant correlations were detected between seropositivity of T. vaginalis and other prognostic factors or overall survival in those patients. In conclusion, chronic T. vaginalis infection may be associated with prostate cancer, but it does not seem that this STI aggravates the cancer status.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura University, 2 El-Gomhouria Street, Mansoura, 35516, Egypt

    Nora E. Saleh, Samar M. Alhusseiny, Wafaa M. El-Zayady & Samar N. El-Beshbishi

  2. Department of Clinical Oncology and Nuclear Medicine, Mansoura University Hospital, Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura University, Mansoura, 35516, Egypt

    Engy M. Aboelnaga, Wafaa N. El-beshbishi & Yasser M. Saleh

  3. Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura University, Mansoura, 35516, Egypt

    Hala S. Abou-ElWafa

Authors
  1. Nora E. Saleh
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  2. Samar M. Alhusseiny
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  3. Wafaa M. El-Zayady
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  4. Engy M. Aboelnaga
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  5. Wafaa N. El-beshbishi
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  6. Yasser M. Saleh
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  7. Hala S. Abou-ElWafa
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  8. Samar N. El-Beshbishi
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Contributions

Nora E. Saleh: methodology, data collection and interpretation, literature search, drafting the work, and approved the final form. Samar M. Alhusseiny: helped in laboratory investigations and statistical analysis and revised and approved the final version to be published. Wafaa M. El-Zayady: helped in literature search and data analysis and reviewed and approved the final version. Engy M. Aboelnaga, Wafaa N. El-beshbishi, and Yasser M. Saleh: clinical examination, data collection, and revised the work and approved the final version to be published. Hala S. Abou-ElWafa: statistical analysis, manuscript editing, reviewing, and approving the final form. Samar N. El-Beshbishi: conceptualization, visualization, data curation, drafted the work, edited, and revised it critically for important intellectual content.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Samar N. El-Beshbishi.

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Saleh, N.E., Alhusseiny, S.M., El-Zayady, W.M. et al. Trichomonas vaginalis serostatus and prostate cancer risk in Egypt: a case-control study. Parasitol Res 120, 1379–1388 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-020-06942-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-020-06942-7

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