Review

Does inhibition of inflammation help in preventing prostate cancer ?

  • Ali İhsan Arık
  • Ahmet Güdeloğlu
  • Cemil Uygur

Bull Urooncol 2011;10(2):22-26

Inflammation is a tissue response induced by infection. Especially chronic inflammation causing tissue damage is dangerous. The clinical findings show that inflammation leads to the formation of epithelial cancers and the initial phase of the inflammation-gene relationship is important. Infection causes 1/5 of all visceral tumors. Thinking that the infectious agents cause cancer, it is hoped that cancer can be prevented with antimicrobials. With the development of Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccine, this hope has turned into reality.

Prostate cancer occurs as a result of impaired balance of oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes. Primary factors responsible for this deterioration are heredity, diet, environmental factors and infection. In recent years, an increasing number of studies with gonorrhea, syphilis and other sexually transmitted bacterial, parasitic or viral agents disclosed relationship between STD and prostate cancer. In order to prevent inflammation, several studies related to the use of aspirin and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) in prostate cancer were conducted. In addition, efforts for prostate cancer forming virus-related vaccine development are still continuing. The purpose of this review is to investigate the prostate cancer-infection relationship, and to answer the question of “Could this relationship be a target for prostate cancer prevention approaches?”

Keywords: Inflammation, prostate cancer, aspirin, nonsteroid antiinflalamatory drugs