When read together, these five studies suggest an intracellular fungal infection is causing BPH.
“TCR γ/δ T cells are exceedingly rare in prostatic tissue but can make up to 40% of T cells in polyclonal BPH T-cell lines. […] The TCR γ/δ T-cell subset appears preferentially in association with [epithelial cells] and has the ability to recognise […] microbials that are located intracellularly.” Kramer et al, 2007
“We identified three specifically expressed proteins, including prostate secretory protein 61 (PSP61), in [the prostatic secretion] from benign BPH patients but absent in normal controls. In addition, we found that PSP61 was a modified isoform of the well-documented PSP-94, which had a perfect matching (100% homology) to the first 61 amino acids of the PSP-94 protein but with a deleted C-terminus.” Xu et al, 2003
“The fungicidal activity of [PSP94] was mapped to a fragment of the C-terminal […] [and] was inhibited by [Ca2+].” Edstrom et al, 2012
“[PSP94] positive immunocytochemical reactions were confined to the cytoplasm […] of the prostatic [epithelial] cells. […] All the sections gave a consistently positive reaction of moderate intensity indicated by a diffuse brownish staining of the cytoplasm of glandular epithelium.” Doctor et al, 1986
“Ca2+ [is] avidly excluded from the cytosol. [...] [A] 20,000-fold [Ca2+] gradient [is] maintained by cells between their intracellular (~100 nM free) and extracellular (mM) concentrations.” Clapham et al, 2007
"PSP94, what is it good for?" explores the hypothesis that an intracellular pathogen targeted by PSP94's C-terminus is causing BPH and prostate cancer. Since PSP94 is only fungicidal within epithelial cells (where calcium ions are absent), the existence of an intracellular pathogen targeted by PSP94 is highly probable. The loss of fungicidal activity of PSP94 in BPH and the resulting immune response targeted toward an intracellular pathogen directly tie BPH to an infection normally kept in check by PSP94. The prostate cancer literature also indicates that PSP94 keeps a chronic infection in check, as increased PSP94 concentration in the prostate protects from prostate cancer in a concentration dependent manner (see Home page). |
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