Any correlation between Pca and Herpe... - Prostate Cancer N...

Prostate Cancer Network

4,933 members3,071 posts

Any correlation between Pca and Herpes virus?

EaNa profile image
EaNa
7 Replies

I recently read some papers that have found some correlation between Alzheimer's and the Herpes virus. I also have a friend who was diagnosed with stage 3 Multiple Myeloma (bone marrow cancer) that spent 3 years researching his issue and concluded that the Herpes Simplex virus is likely the culprit, etiologically. His wife is an M.D. and works for the same health care organization we both get medical care from. He discussed his research findings with an infectious disease doctor and put him on Acyclovir for the herpes for life combined with vitamin D3 and B complex. With this, he's been able to maintain the bone cancer at bay for 5+ years with no progression and in good health. He believes that without this therapy he would probably have been dead by now. What do we know about correlation between prostate cancer and the Herpes virus? Anyone in this group looked into that?

Written by
EaNa profile image
EaNa
To view profiles and participate in discussions please or .
Read more about...
7 Replies
Tangntsine profile image
Tangntsine

I am very interested! can someone in the know address this?

EaNa profile image
EaNa in reply to Tangntsine

I'm starting my own research but there appears to be some evidence of correlation, one of the papers I found online:

sciencedirect.com/science/a...

There are others.

Medline profile image
Medline

Reduction of serum prostate-specific antigen levels following varicella-zoster infection and valaciclovir treatment in prostate cancer

We present two prostate cancer patients, including one with a castration-resistant cancer whose rising serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels showed a remarkable drop after a reactivated varicella-zoster virus infection treated with valaciclovir. In one patient, we found a temporary decrease in serum PSA lasting for at least 4 mo. In the patient with castration-resistant prostate cancer, serum PSA decreased to <0.01 microg/l and has remained undetectable since.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/192...

EaNa profile image
EaNa in reply to Medline

Thank you for posting this, will take a close look at it.

EaNa profile image
EaNa

My Urologist said that a correlation between HSV and prostate cancer has not been conclusively shown and is still very controversial, which at least is an acknowledgement that there may be something to this hypothesis. As expected, he does not agree with antiviral treatment as he believes that "it would be purely speculative and the American Urological Association guidelines would not support this." If my post-prostatectomy PSA continues rising I may become my own test subject as I don't have much else to go by, but I'd be willing to delay other more "traditional" therapy for a few months to try an antiviral first.

MrG68 profile image
MrG68 in reply to EaNa

So, I have the HSV. I used to get outbreaks every couple of months. Some people get it worse than others. I was on the extremely bad side of that distribution. So in a desperate attempt to reduce the outbreak frequencies I did a LOT of researching and came across studies here and there. I tried a lot of remedies. There was nothing I read that was convincing wrt a any correlation. The reference that you've included isn't what I would be considering as anything of any value IMO. The paper even admits the data is poor. I think it's also worth pointing out that I have other family members with PCa who do not have the HSV.However, that being said, all the effort was not lost. Because of the severity of my outbreaks I used to view them as a scourge. They were seriously depressing. I then began to realize that they were actually an extremely good indicator of the health of my immune system. I could predict when I would get the outbreaks depending on stressful events, lack of exercise and sleep and other things.

I now lean towards a pescatarian diet, get more sleep and exercise, try to eat good foods as opposed to supplements, take a min daily 10K IUs of vitamin D3 with K2, miso soup and natto. I also avoid dairy - but occasionally have the odd treat. Those are the core things that I changed. There are other things in there like chaga tea, and other antioxidants foods but that's the core I stick to. Other things vary.

Currently, I haven't had an outbreak for about 2 years. For me, this was an incredible turnaround.

I'm not saying that this will work for you like it has for me, but I do suggest that maybe you could also monitor your outbreaks. As it turns out, I now view this as something that is positive as opposed to a scourge.

With PCa I believe that your strongest weapon available to you is your immune system. It makes sense to me to try to maximize your immune systems capability. This is one of my indicators which I use to try to do that.

As an aside to this, I have never been ill for 2 years, never caught COVID where people around me have actually had it and I've socialized with them. The only thing I can say I've had was what felt like the beginnings of a cold one evening, but the next morning totally gone. I used to be the person that caught EVERYTHING. I'm not exaggerating.

Hope that helps.

EaNa profile image
EaNa in reply to MrG68

Thanks for your feedback. I totally agree with you that HSV outbreaks are related to stressors and they are good indicators of the immune system's condition. I understand that even if there were some correlation, not every PCa case would be related to HSV. To be clear, I'm not saying that, but could SOME of the cases have HSV as a precursor and if so, what is the role of antivirals in the fight against the cancer, that is what I'm trying to determine. I expected a much higher number of responses here because I know what the HSV statistics are, in the US about 67% of the population for HSV-1 and nearly 13% for HSV-2 but apparently this subject has never been discussed in this group. I'm surprised.

You may also like...

Advanced PCa - medication side effects or brain mets?

and went into remission. His PSA levels started rising again last year, and his oncologist located...

I've been thinking about my PCa and have some questions - would be glad for any thought or input

willing to share his note with my primary care Dr as well as any and all care givers - and...

Localized High Risk Pca (G9 4+5) questions

How can I maintain that integrity until I get treated? This shows my total ignorance on cancer...

Deciding between HIFU and LDR BT

cores from identified left-side lesion all 80-100% cancer with 5% type 4. Overall, 9 of 12 cores...

Any input appreciated

about, who says surgery. Will be returning soon for bone and ct scans. I have good connections in...