KEY TAKEAWAYS
- The study aimed to investigate the causal relationships between prostatitis, BPH, and prostate cancer using MR.
- Researchers noticed that BPH has a positive causal effect on PCa, while prostatitis does not.
Although it is thought that prostatitis or benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is related to prostate cancer (PCa), the underlying causal effects of these diseases are unclear.
Jiaguo Huang and the team conducted this Mendelian randomization (MR) study to clarify these relationships by analyzing genetic data to determine whether there are direct causal links between BPH, prostatitis, and PCa.
They performed an inclusive analysis to assess the causal relationship between prostatitis or BPH and PCa using a 2-sample MR approach. The data utilized in this study were sourced from genome-wide association studies. The association of genetic variants from cohorts of prostatitis or BPH and PCa patients was determined using inverse-variance weighted and MR Egger regression techniques. The direction of chance was determined using independent genetic variants with genome-wide significance (P < 5 × 10-6). The accuracy of the results was confirmed using sensitivity analyses.
MR analysis showed that BPH had a significant causal effect on PCa (Odds Ratio = 1.209, 95% Cl: 0.098-0.281, P = 5.079 × 10-5) while prostatitis had no significant causal effect on PCa (P > 0.05). Additionally, the pleiotropic test and leave-one-out analysis showed the two-sample MR analyses were valid and reliable.
The study concluded that BPH has a positive causal effect on PCa, while genetically predicted prostatitis has no causal effect on PCa. Nonetheless, further studies should explore the underlying biochemical mechanisms and potential therapeutic targets for the prevention of these diseases.
This study was supported by the Foundation of Xiaoshan Science and Technology Bureau of Hangzhou, China, and Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China.
Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38937672/
Huang J, Sun J, Wang K, et al. (2024). “Causal relationship between prostatic diseases and prostate cancer: a mendelian randomization study.” BMC Cancer. 2024 Jun 27;24(1):774. doi: 10.1186/s12885-024-12551-9. PMID: 38937672.
