Hunting for bacteria that drive aggressive prostate cancer

Grant information

Lead researcher - Professor Daniel Brewer
Institution - University of East Anglia
Award - £77,925.00
Duration - 2020-2023
Status - Complete
Reference - MA-ETNA19-003

Why did we fund this project?

• Bacteria have a role in the development of lots of cancers, such as stomach, liver and bladder cancers. However, a potential role for bacteria in prostate cancer has not yet been widely explored.
• As part of a previous Prostate Cancer UK-funded project, Professor Dan Brewer's team found certain types of bacteria were more common in the urine of men with aggressive prostate cancer.
• In this project, the team wanted to study these types of bacteria in more detail in prostate tissue from men with prostate cancer (taken as part of their usual surgery). They wanted to work out if these bacteria are helping aggressive prostate cancer to grow and spread, and so could be a target for treatment.
• If bacteria do play a key role, this opens the possibility that targeted antibiotics could be use to stall the development of aggressive prostate cancer.

What did the team do?

• The team measured the amount of different types of bacteria in prostate tissue taken from thousands of men as part of their routine surgery. 
• They combined this with clinical data about these men such as the Gleason grade of the cancers, the men's PSA levels and how they responded to treatments.
• By using statistical tests and artificial intelligence, the team identified types bacteria that were more common in aggressive prostate cancers.

What did the team achieve?

• The team identified lots of types of bacteria that were associated with aggressive prostate cancer, including the types they had previously identified in the urine samples. Interestingly, this included some new bacteria that had not previously been discovered.
• Certain bacteria were associated with characteristics that are known to drive aggressive prostate cancer, such as low oxygen levels, and low numbers of white blood cells. The team now want to explore if bacteria could be causing these characteristics to develop.
• Interestingly, when prostate cancer had spread to other parts of the body to form new tumours called 'metastases', the types of bacteria found in the metastases was very similar to the types found in the original prostate cancer. This suggests that when prostate cancer spreads to new sites in the body, it takes bacteria with it.
• Through this project, the team have developed important new methods for detecting bacteria. By sharing these methods, the team are also supporting other teams of scientists in this field to uncover the role of bacteria in cancer.

What does this mean for men?

• The team have demonstrated a link between bacteria and aggressive prostate cancer.
• The next step is to try and prove that bacteria are directly causing prostate cancer to become aggressive. This would mean that killing certain bacteria using targeted antibiotics could be an effective treatment.
• Team member Dr Abraham Gihawi is continuing this work through a new Prostate Cancer UK Career Acceleration Fellowship investigating how a man's ethnicity affects the link between bacteria and aggressive prostate cancer.