This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Kapoor, S.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Kapoor, S.

 Previous Article

Clinical and Vaccine Immunology, August 2008, p. 1307, Vol. 15, No. 8
1071-412X/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/CVI.00052-08
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Mycobacterium bovis Bacillus Calmette-Guérin Therapy Is a Potent Immunostimulator for Management of Systemic Malignancies


arrow
LETTER
 
I read with interest the recent article by Méndez-Samperio et al. (6). The Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine has played a major role in decreasing the incidence of tuberculosis in developing nations. But the past few years have also seen its increased application in other fields, especially in the field of urology.

BCG therapy has been effectively used in the management of superficial bladder cancers. It is especially useful as an adjuvant therapy following bladder surgery for cancer. For instance, Demkow et al., in a recent study, reported that nearly 66% of the patients who received intravesical BCG therapy following complete transurethral resection of a bladder tumor were cancer free after a median follow-up of 45 months (3). Intravesical immunotherapy with BCG in combination with agents such as celecoxib appears to be more effective than standalone BCG therapy (4). BCG is a potent immunostimulator that exerts its urological effects by inducing a strong immune response and by causing cell cycle arrest at the G1/S transition phase (2, 7). Underexpression of pRb by superficial bladder cells is associated with a poor response and an increased risk of cancer recurrence after intravesical BCG therapy (5). BCG therapy is also effective in the management of refractory interstitial cystitis. For instance, Aghamir et al., in a recent study, reported that 51.9% of the patients who received BCG therapy showed persistent improvement in urinary frequency after 2 years of follow-up (1).

The successful use of the BCG therapy for the management of urological malignancies and interstitial cystitis clearly demonstrates its potent immunostimulatory function. Further studies are needed to explore and harness its immunostimulatory potential for the management of other systemic malignancies besides bladder cancer.


arrow
FOOTNOTES
 
Ed. Note: The authors of the published article declined to respond.


arrow
REFERENCES
 
    1
  1. Aghamir, S. M., M. G. Mohseni, and S. Arasteh. 2007. Intravesical bacillus Calmette-Guerin for treatment of refractory interstitial cystitis. Urol. J. 4:18-23.[Medline]
    2. 2
  2. Chen, F., G. Zhang, Y. Cao, R. Payne, and W. A. See. 2007. Bacillus Calmette-Guerin inhibits apoptosis in human urothelial carcinoma cell lines in response to cytotoxic injury. J. Urol. 178:2166-2170.[CrossRef][Medline]
    3. 3
  3. Demkow, T., A. Alter, and P. Wiechno. 2008. Intravesical bacillus Calmette-Guerin therapy for T1 superficial bladder cancer. Urol. Int. 80:74-79.[CrossRef][Medline]
    4. 4
  4. Dovedi, S. J., J. A. Kirby, B. R. Davies, H. Leung, and J. D. Kelly. 2008. Celecoxib has potent antitumour effects as a single agent and in combination with BCG immunotherapy in a model of urothelial cell carcinoma. Eur. Urol. doi:10.1016/j.eururo.2008.01.013. [Epub ahead of print.]
    5. 5
  5. Esuvaranathan, K., E. Chiong, T. P. Thamboo, Y. H. Chan, R. Kamaraj, R. Mahendran, and M. Teh. 2007. Predictive value of p53 and pRb expression in superficial bladder cancer patients treated with BCG and interferon-alpha. Cancer 109:1097-1105.[Medline]
    6. 6
  6. Mendez-Samperio, P., A. Trejo, and A. Perez. 2008. Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette-Guérin induces CCL5 secretion via the Toll-like receptor 2-NF-{kappa}B and -Jun N-terminal kinase signaling pathways. Clin. Vaccine Immunol. 15:277-283.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
    7. 7
  7. Shintani, Y., Y. Sawada, T. Inagaki, Y. Kohjimoto, Y. Uekado, and T. Shinka. 2007. Intravesical instillation therapy with bacillus Calmette-Guerin for superficial bladder cancer: study of the mechanism of bacillus Calmette-Guerin immunotherapy. Int. J. Urol. 14:140-146.[CrossRef][Medline]
Shailendra Kapoor
University of Illinois at Chicago
Chicago, Illinois 60612
E-mail: shailendrakapoor{at}yahoo.com

Clinical and Vaccine Immunology, August 2008, p. 1307, Vol. 15, No. 8
1071-412X/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/CVI.00052-08
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.




This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Kapoor, S.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Kapoor, S.

Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»