Patients with chronic prostatitis have a higher prevalence of seropositivity to Helicobacter pylori compared with patients without the condition, according to researchers.
Omer Faruk Karatas, MD, and colleagues at the Fatih University Medical School in Ankara, Turkey, analyzed blood samples from 64 patients with chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS) with 55 randomly selected prostatitis-free controls. Results showed that 76% of the CP/CPPS patients were seropositive for H. pylori compared with 62% of controls, the investigators reported in the Scandinavian Journal of Urology and Nephrology (published online ahead of print).
The authors noted that H. pylori colonizes the gastric mucosa and can trigger inflammatory and immune responses, with release of various bacterial and host-dependent cytotoxic substances.
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“This pilot study supports the hypothesis that H. pylori might have a role in CP/CPSS,” the authors concluded. “The infection [with H. pylori] may be related to the immune response and increased cytokines in seminal plasma and/or expressed prostatic secretion.”
