Eosinophils but not mast cells exert anti-tumorigenic activity, without being predictive markers of the long-term response to Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) therapy in patients with bladder carcinoma.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) therapy is an established immunotherapy for non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC); however, the response variability of patients remains a challenge, necessitating insight into immune cell function. Previous studies established that a preexisting Th2 immune microenvironment correlates with a positive BCG therapy outcome. Therefore, in this study, we explored the role of mast cells (MCs) and eosinophils in bladder cancer as a potential predicting tool for BCG immunotherapy response.

Methods

We investigated the effect of MCs and eosinophils on bladder cancer cell viability together with their chemotactic migration towards cancer cells in vitro. The effect of BCG on these immune cells was also evaluated. Moreover, we performed an o

SUBMITTER: Zaffran I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12021714 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature