Increased risk of colon and pancreatic cancers in Egyptians subjects is associated with Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection

The highly tuberculosis (TB) infectious nature urges the need to elevate the rapidity and efficiency of laboratory methods. Additionally, the relationship between TB and malignancy becomes even more challenging to be clarified. Thus we aimed to evaluate the association between TB and colon and pancreatic cancers using Mycobacterium tuberculosis antigen (55-KDa) based method other than conventional limited screening methods. A total of 110 individuals were included in this study; 24 healthy volunteers and 86 cancerous patients. The underlying malignant conditions were colon (n=44) and pancreatic (n=42) cancers. TB 55-kDa antigen was determined using ELISA. The detection rate of TB -antigen was found to be significantly high in cancerous patients. According to the site of malignancies, pancreatic cancer was associated with the highest TB risk (OR=15.7) vs colon cancer (OR=8.6). The mean TB-antigen level was significantly higher in pancreatic cancer (1.8 +/- 0.02) and colon cancer (1.3 +/- 0.04) cohort than healthy control (0.1 +/- 0.03). Interestingly, TB-antigen levels were significantly correlated with gastrointestinal tumor markers like CA19-9 and CEA (r=0.527 and 0.635, respectively). Additionally, old age (OR=3.1), male sex (OR=3.3), cancer treatment (OR=12.3), elevated CA19-9 and CEA levels (>200 U/mL) (OR=10.0 and 35.0, respectively) were identified as potential risk factors for TB in cancerous patients. In conclusion, Mycobacterium tuberculosis is an important pathogen in cancerous patients in particular those with pancreatic cancer and must be searched immediately if there are clinical doubts.