Parkinson's Disease and Prostate Cancer May Be Connected

It could very well be that people who suffer from Parkinson's disease (PD) are also at an increased risk of developing prostate cancer and melanoma, say researchers from the University of Utah.

In a new study, they found out that a connection definitely exists between the two. PD apparently boosts cancer risk, and this increased risk manifests itself in both close and distant relatives of those suffering from Parkinson's.

Though a link with melanoma had been suspected for quite some time now, this is the first time when this degenerative disorder of the central nervous system was linked to prostate cancer.

Past studies conducted on PD patients found that these individuals are generally at a lower risk of developing cancer than seniors without the condition. However, this subgroup did have a higher chance of developing skin cancer known as melanoma.

“Neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s disease may share common disease-causing mechanisms with some cancers,” explains study coauthor Stefan-M. Pulst, MD.

“Using the Utah Population Database, we were able to explore the association of PD with different types of cancer by studying cancer risk in individuals with PD, as well as their close and distant relatives,” the expert adds.

Pulst holds an appointment as a professor and chair of the UH Department of Neurology. He explains that the work was conducted on 3,000 test subjects, which spanned a total of three generations of genealogical data.

All the people included in the new study had Parkinson's listed as the cause of their death. When experts checked for cancer/melanoma risk in this group, they discovered a much higher incidence of the two conditions than they expected.

The first-, second-, and third-degree relatives of those 3,000 test subjects were also found to be at an increased risk of developing skin cancer than people without PD. “Collectively, these data strongly support a genetic association between PD and both prostate cancer and melanoma,” Pulst says.

“In our study, we not only identified an increased risk for prostate cancer and melanoma among individuals with PD and their relatives, but also established a reciprocal risk for PD among individuals with these two cancers and their relatives,” the investigator adds, quoted by PsychCentral.

“Our findings point to the existence of underlying pathophysiologic changes that are common to PD, prostate cancer, and melanoma,” the team goes on to say.

“Exploring the precise genetic links among these diseases could improve our understanding of PD and influence strategies for prostate and skin cancer screening,” the researchers conclude.