Health / Bergamo City
Sunday 04 June 2023
NEW STUDIES. Prostate cancer is the most frequent neoplasm in men; to try to define the possible causes and processes that lead healthy prostate tissue to become cancerous, numerous studies have been carried out and one of the most promising fields of research in this sense is the examination of chronic inflammation of the prostate.
In fact, this process determines a series of chemical, biochemical and cellular events within the prostate gland and could therefore represent a potential risk factor for tumor development or progression.
The study “Pros-IT2” was recently published on this tumor form in the international journal Cancers, promoted by the Neuroscience Institute of the National Research Council of Padua. 8 Italian urological centers which represent national excellence for the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer have collaborated on the new project.
Stephanie Maggi
For the Pros-IT2, the first of its kind, data were collected from around 200 patients, from each of whom an average of 11 prostate biopsy samples were evaluated, for a total of over 2,000 samples analysed. «The greatest criticality in studies in this field – explains Stefania Maggi, research manager of the Padua-Aging section of the Cnr-In – is represented by the complexity in defining and quantifying prostatic inflammation. In particular, the site of the glandular tissue affected by the inflammatory process, the degree and extension of the inflammation can vary greatly from subject to subject. Therefore, studies on small populations present in the literature often give partial and inconclusive results”.
The study instead made it possible to define for the first time with great precision the relationship between inflammation and prostate cancer. «In particular – continues Marianna Noale, researcher of the Cnr-In and statistician responsible for the project – we have clarified that the presence of high-grade inflammation, located in the peri-glandular site (in the stromal tissue surrounding the glandular tissue) and with a pattern of multifocal presentation, it is more frequently associated with prostate cancer.
The discovery
This important discovery may have immediate clinical implications, for example suggesting a targeted screening to have an early diagnosis in subjects with prostatic inflammation. «Chronic inflammation of the prostate has been considered for many years as a pathology of minor importance compared to benign hypertrophy (enlargement and consequent urinary disorders) or carcinoma, and for this reason it is often overlooked. In the light of these new data, we should pay more attention to this condition which affects many men and which can be treated by correcting wrong lifestyles or using targeted therapies», adds Maggi. “The analyzes on the data from the Pros-IT2 study – concludes Noale – will continue in the coming months, with the aim of deepening the evaluations on the relationship between prostate cancer and the type and site of prostatic inflammation”.
© breaking latest news