About this Research Topic
Bladder cancer is the 10th most commonly diagnosed cancer impacting both sexes. Roughly 75% of patients are initially diagnosed with non-muscle invasive disease, confined to mucosa. Currently, the standard of care for this type of cancer is endoscopic and transurethral resection of the lesion, typically followed by adjuvant intravesical chemo- or immunotherapy with Bacillus Calmette Guerin (BCG), if at high risk of progression or recurrence. However, even with the prompt therapy, at 5 years, almost 50% of the patients progress to developing muscle-invasive disease. The question of why some patients have excellent results while others do not respond rose. Human organisms hosts trillions of microbes that interact with it daily and on numerous sites, and this is the reason why we should not be surprised they play an important role in immunity. This interconnection between humans and their microbiota permits to tolerate commensal bacteria and all ingested antigens (e.g. food and beverages), but also to limit and attack opportunistic bacteria and recognize diseased cells. This means that microbiota influences immune responses and contributes to innate and adaptive immunity.
Although for decades, urine was considered sterile, recent studies have found a very diverse urinary microbiome using advanced molecular and cultures techniques. 16S rRNA amplification and sequencing made it possible to identify various species, composed mostly of bacteria, but fungi, archaea and viruses were also found. Certain microbial communities are majorly present in healthy individuals, and dysbiosis was described in disease. On the other hand, the influence of the gut microbiome on the immune system was the center of scientific research for many years, especially when it comes to the anti-cancer response. It has been found to influence the response to immune checkpoint blockade in various cancers, so this actually means that tumor microenvironment very important in immunotherapy, both local and systemic. This concept was already studied in metastatic melanoma with interesting results, and some bacterial species in gut microbiome were described as beneficial when it comes to therapy-response. So could it be possible that some NMIBC patients simply have urinary and gut microbiome composition that favors stronger anti-tumor response when in treatment with BCG?
The goal of the Research Topic is to explore research related to gut and urinary microbiota in patients with NMIBC that received adjuvant BCG therapy (responders and non-responders). We would be greatly interested in experimental research like randomized and non-randomized trials and prospective studies, meta-analyses and systematic reviews, but any study regarding this subject is more than welcome.
Please note: manuscripts consisting solely of bioinformatics or computational analysis of public genomic or transcriptomic databases which are not accompanied by validation (independent cohort or biological validation in vitro or in vivo) are out of scope for this section and will not be accepted as part of this Research Topic.
Although for decades, urine was considered sterile, recent studies have found a very diverse urinary microbiome using advanced molecular and cultures techniques. 16S rRNA amplification and sequencing made it possible to identify various species, composed mostly of bacteria, but fungi, archaea and viruses were also found. Certain microbial communities are majorly present in healthy individuals, and dysbiosis was described in disease. On the other hand, the influence of the gut microbiome on the immune system was the center of scientific research for many years, especially when it comes to the anti-cancer response. It has been found to influence the response to immune checkpoint blockade in various cancers, so this actually means that tumor microenvironment very important in immunotherapy, both local and systemic. This concept was already studied in metastatic melanoma with interesting results, and some bacterial species in gut microbiome were described as beneficial when it comes to therapy-response. So could it be possible that some NMIBC patients simply have urinary and gut microbiome composition that favors stronger anti-tumor response when in treatment with BCG?
The goal of the Research Topic is to explore research related to gut and urinary microbiota in patients with NMIBC that received adjuvant BCG therapy (responders and non-responders). We would be greatly interested in experimental research like randomized and non-randomized trials and prospective studies, meta-analyses and systematic reviews, but any study regarding this subject is more than welcome.
Please note: manuscripts consisting solely of bioinformatics or computational analysis of public genomic or transcriptomic databases which are not accompanied by validation (independent cohort or biological validation in vitro or in vivo) are out of scope for this section and will not be accepted as part of this Research Topic.
Keywords: bladder cancer, gut microbiome, urinary microbiome, BCG, responders
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