BCG response prediction with cytokine gene variants and bladder cancer: where we are?

Abstract

Research continues to establish the most effectual strain of BCG and the best dosage schedule for the treatment for bladder cancer but, on the other hand, a very critical part of this therapy to find out the correlation of different cytokine with BCG therapy, which will give a better insights not only the mechanism but also a better therapeutic options.

FASL polymorphism is associated with response to bacillus Calmette-Guérin immunotherapy in bladder cancer

“…Still, at the moment there are no reliable biomarkers to determine the outcome of this therapeutics, thereby permitting the early identification of patients better served by alternative therapeutics or cystectomy [14,16]. It has been long thought that such biomarkers may be encountered among molecules/cells involved in the mediation of immune responses at the tumor site [14][15][16]. Among these putative immune-related biomarkers is the Given the putative involvement Fas/FasL pathway on the immune response, one may hypothesize that functional polymorphisms affecting expression levels of this molecules may deregulate this pathway contributing to the failure of BCG therapeutics [15].…”

“…It has been long thought that such biomarkers may be encountered among molecules/cells involved in the mediation of immune responses at the tumor site [14][15][16]. Among these putative immune-related biomarkers is the Given the putative involvement Fas/FasL pathway on the immune response, one may hypothesize that functional polymorphisms affecting expression levels of this molecules may deregulate this pathway contributing to the failure of BCG therapeutics [15]. Therefore it may be used as a predictive biomarker of BCG immunotherapy outcome.…”

“…However, at the moment there are no established biomarkers to determine the outcome of BCG immunotherapy. Recently, several authors suggest that immunological predictive markers may yield promising clinical value in the context of predicting BCG immunotherapy outcome [14][15][16].…”

Infection and Cancer: Revaluation of the Hygiene Hypothesis

“…BCG in this context may have a role in stimulating the body's own anticancer immunity via enhancing T H 1 cytokine production (e.g., IFN-g, TNFa; refs. 88,89). Microbial components may also find applicability in preventing cancer, as in the case of the tumor-pathogen T/Tn antigen (90) and the bacterial endotoxin LPS (28).…”

Biologic Therapy

“…25 A related but separate preparation, BCG vaccine, is used for TB prevention in countries outside of the United States. 27 Although attenuated, BCG is a live, highly communicable biologic. The mechanism of action has not been fully elucidated, but it is believed to act on cytokine production (TNF-␣ , IFN-␥ , IL-6, IL-2, IL-5, and IL-12) and stimulate NK cells, cytotoxic T cells, and T helper cells.…”