Sexually and Non-sexually Transmitted Infections and The risk of Prostate Cancer

INTRODUCTION: Prostate cancer (PCa) is by far the most common type of cancer among men in western countries. However, relatively little is known about its etiology despite the high morbidity and mortality rates, where only advanced age, ethnicity, and family history of prostate cancer are well-established non-modifiable risk factors. It has been suggested that chronic inflammation may be involved in the development of prostate carcinogenesis. Therefore, our objective was to investigate the role of sexually and non-sexually transmitted infections in the occurrence of prostate cancer with a specific interest in the aggressive types based on data from EPICAP. METHODS: EPICAP is a population-based case-control study conducted in the département of Hérault, France, between 2012 and 2014. A total of 819 incident cases and 879 controls were interviewed face-to-face using a standardized questionnaire gathering information on known or suspected risk factors of prostate cancer and personal history of specific sexually and non-sexually transmitted infections: Gonorrhea, Syphilis, Trichomonas, Herpes, Mononucleosis, Epstein Barr, Varicella-zoster, and Dengue. Odds Ratios (OR) and their 95% confidence interval were estimated using multivariate unconditional logistic regression. RESULTS: No association emerged for the history of sexually transmitted infections (OR 1.04, 95%CI: 0.84-1.25) and non-sexually transmitted infections (OR1.09, 95%CI: 0.89-1.34) and the risk of prostate cancer. Even for all the infections studied separately, there was no association with the risk of low-grade or high-grade prostate cancer. CONCLUSIONS: Our results showed that sexually or non-sexually transmitted infections do not seem to be risk factors for prostate cancer in the EPICAP study. Therefore, further investigation is needed to help advance our understanding of the role of chronic inflammation in the etiology of prostate cancer, with a particular focus on its most aggressive types.