High prevalence of Pentatrichomonas hominis infection in gastrointestinal cancer patients.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Pentatrichomonas hominis is a flagellated protozoan that inhabits the large intestine of humans. Although several protozoans have been proposed to have a role in cancer progression, little is known about the epidemiology of P. hominis infection in cancer patients.

Methods

To determine the prevalence of P. hominis in patients with digestive system malignancies, we collected 195 and 142 fecal samples from gastrointestinal cancer patients and residents without any complaints related to the digestive system, respectively. Each sample was detected for the presence of P. hominis by nested PCR amplifying the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region and partial 18S rRNA gene.

Results

A significantly higher prevalence of P. hominis was found in cancer patients than

SUBMITTER: Zhang N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6714378 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature