Administration of antibodies to nerve growth factor has been associated with reduced pain in osteoarthritis. Is there possible relevance to chronic prostatitis?

Pain is mediated by nerve, which are affected by many variables. Among the best characterized is a protein known as nerve growth factor (NGF). A study just published in the British Journal of Urology shows that in patients with chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome:

• The concentrations of NGF are almost twice highter in patients and controls
• The concentration of NGF was correlated with pain
• The concentration of NGF did not vary with treatment
• Treatment success did decrease the concentrations of NGF

The observation that high NGF concentrations is higher in prostatitis patients does not mean that NGF is involved in the mediation of pain. It could just as easily mean that high NGF is a marker of the prostatitis condition, perhaps a consequence of whatever caused the prostatitis in the first place. At the same time, this study does lay a theoretical groundwork to parallel what has been shown in osteoarthritis, in which antibodies to NGF brought symptom relief.