HMGA1 and prostate cancer: As we have also shown that T. vaginalis induces IL-6 in PECs (unpublished data), we hypothesize that this stimulation is, likewise, due to the downstream binding of HMGA1 to the IL-6 promoter that has binding sites for the protein, thereby providing increased IL-6 expression, which can then reinforce the cascade and contribute to prostate cancer progression by a separate, related mechanism.