Characterisation of the tumour microenvironment and PD-L1 granularity reveals the prognostic value of cancer-associated myofibroblasts in non-invasive bladder cancer.

ABSTRACT: High-risk non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) presents high recurrence and progression rates. Despite the use of Bacillus Calmette-Guérin gold-standard immunotherapy and the recent irruption of anti-PD-1/PD-L1 drugs, we are missing a comprehensive understanding of the tumor microenvironment (TME) that may help us find biomarkers associated to treatment outcome. Here, we prospectively analyzed TME composition and PD-L1 expression of tumor and non-tumoral tissue biopsies from 73 NMIBC patients and used scRNA-seq, transcriptomic cohorts and tissue micro-array to validate the prognostic value of cell types of interest. Compared to non-tumoral tissue, NMIBC presented microvascular alterations, increased cancer-associated fibroblast (CAF) and myofibroblast (myoCAF) presence, and varied im

SUBMITTER: Canizo CG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11660370 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature