Sentinel lymph node detection in urinary bladder cancer : a gateway to advanced translational research and cellular immunotherapy Minireview

• Patients with advanced urothelial urinary bladder cancer (UBC) have a pessimistic prognosis, although modern urology can offer preoperative chemotherapy followed by radical surgery. Attempts to find additional, other than adjuvant cytotoxic treatment options need to be explored. The field of immune therapy may be of particular value in UBC since immunotherapy of superficial UBC using an unspecific immunotherapy modality, namely BCG, has been so successful. In addition, UBC is one of the most genetically unstable cancers carrying many neo-antigens as potential targets for T lymphocyte recognition. A tempting option aiming at highly individualized treatment could be autologous cell therapy based on the concepts of sentinel node detection. The sentinel nodes, representing the foremost arena for the struggle between the immune system of the patient and the tumor assault, can offer high quantities of highly specialized T lymphocytes. These T cells have evolved in response to a number of specific tumor antigens reaching the tumor draining sentinel nodes en route. Adoptive immunotherapy within this framework entails possibilities of harvesting tumor specific T cells from the sentinel nodes and allowing them to expand in vitro. Expanded and strengthened T cells can then be reinfused as a safe and non-toxic adjuvant immunotherapy. The first pilot trials have been published utilizing this method in two solid cancers, colon and UBC. Results demonstrate objective responses in some patients without any negative side effects. The future challenge is to increase the translational research in this specific field, to further improve immunobiological techniques, to optimize patient selection and to perform larger randomized controlled clinical trials.

Subject headings

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Klinisk medicin -- Urologi och njurmedicin (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Clinical Medicine -- Urology and Nephrology (hsv//eng)

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)