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Much of Cancer Caused By Infection

The Mycoplasma hyorhinis-generated prostate cancer is one instance where bacteria infecting animals cause havoc in human genetic materials. This cross-infection is something that health authorities need to look into because its potential impact on humans.

SINCE the late 20th century, investigators in medical science increasingly built up evidence that much of cancer came from infections, be it bacterial or viral (rarely, fungal though).

In fact, in 2007, the American Cancer Society estimated that around 30 percent of all cancers worldwide had been results of infection.

These infection agents are capable of inducing the birth of tumors through their protein products that exert long-term and growing inflammatory reaction in the human body where the infection resides.

Barely two years ago, the Namiki Study reported the first infection with Mycoplasma hyorhinis (Mh), a species of tiny, wall-free microorganisms that resides in the human cell or on its cell membrane. This genus comprises the smallest organism (0.2-0.3 micrometer long) capable of self-replication.

The study, published in PLoS One noted that even a single Mh protein, called p37, can increase its number, significant changes in the genetic materials of the host, and enhance the invasive character of the cancer cells that develop.

The p37 protein was first described in 1988 during successful attempts to identify human cell antigens that trigger the appearance of antibodies that attack specifically certain tumors. Around this time, scientists had already started experimenting on the so-called "cancer immunization." And a team of seven investigators that GC Fareed headed analyzed serum samples of patients immunized with extracts from tumors. Indeed, those cancers had regressed, had antibodies against their cancer cells found in abundance in their blood. Those who failed to respond also failed to show these antibodies in their blood.

In June 2011, Cydney Uranek, and her team of seven other scientists, confirmed the presence of Mycoplasma hyorhinis infection in patients with either benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) or full-blown prostate cancer (PCA). The results, which they published in BMC Cancer, show that... [Read more] 

Supplemental Note
Mycoplasma hyorhinis is a known causative agent of a type of pleurisy in animals, particularly swine, called Glasser's Disease.

This article appears in Sun-Star Cebu newspaper on 24 August 2011.
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