KATONGOLE Paul | Role of the Gut microbiome in Prostate cancer disease pathogenesis

KATONGOLE Paul studied the role of gut microbiome in Prostate can- cer disease pathogenesis among Prostate cancer patients at the Uganda Cancer Institute. He found out that specific bacteria phyla and genus were associated with Prostate cancer disease and some of these bacteria were. He also explored the association between inflammatory cytokines and Immune checkpoint inhibitor molecules as potential biomarkers in Ugandan men with Prostate cancer. Paul found out that cytokines such as (IL-6 and IL-8) were significantly associated with aggressive Prostate cancer (high PSAs and Gleason scores) and noticed that PD-L1 (Programmed death-ligand 1) immune checkpoint molecule was significantly associ- ated with high levels of Gleason scores. The study also reviewed the clinical characteristics of pros- tate cancer patients at the Uganda cancer institute and found out that more than 90% of Prostate cancer patients reporting to UCI had ad- vanced disease and the median PSA levels were 100ng/l. The study was funded by African Development Bank Grant and NURTURE; and was supervised by Dr. Nixon Niyonzima, Dr. Sande James Obondo and Prof. Moses L Joloba.