ArticleFrontiers in immunology2023
Intravesical BCG in bladder cancer induces innate immune responses against SARS-CoV-2.
Article in Frontiers in immunology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 6 citations in OpenAlex.
- ELISPOT as a Functional for Biomarker Study in Cancer Immunotherapy: Applications and Future Directions.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Pooled it
- <p>Anxiety‑induced overactive bladder: The role of oxidative stress and NF‑κB signaling pathway with Hsp90 as a potential biomarker</p>.Molecular medicine reports · 2026Article
- Active Propelled Micro Robots in Drug Delivery for Urologic Diseases.Micromachines · 2025Review
- Stereotactic ablative radiotherapy-driven immunosuppression is associated with poorer progression-free survival in cancer patients.Cancer immunology, immunotherapy : CII · 2025Article
- Trained Immunity in Health and Disease.MedComm · 2025Review
- Training the synergy between Bacillus Calmette-Guérin and immune checkpoint-blocking antibodies in bladder cancer.Cancer communications (London, England) · 2025Article
- No Association Between BCG Instillations and COVID-19 Incidence in a Dutch Non-Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer Cohort.Bladder cancer (Amsterdam, Netherlands) · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
16 authors at 10 institutions in 6 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
BCG is the most efficient adjuvant therapy for high-risk, non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). Both innate and adaptive immune responses have been implicated in BCG-mediated effects. BCG vaccination can boost innate immune responses via trained immunity (TI), resulting in an increased resistance to respiratory viral infections. Here we evaluated for the first time whether intravesical application of BCG triggers increased immunity against SARS-CoV-2 in patients with high-risk NMIBC. Serum and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from heparinized whole blood samples of 11 unvaccinated SARS-CoV-2-naïve high-risk NMIBC patients were collected at baseline and during BCG treatment in a pre-COVID-19 era. To examine B-cell or T cell-dependent adaptive immunity against SARS-CoV-2, sera were tested for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies. Using a SARS-CoV-2 peptide pool, virus-specific T cells were quantified via IFNγ ELISpot assays. To analyze innate immune responses, mRNA and protein expression levels of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines were measured after a 24-hour stimulation of PBMCs with either BCG or SARS-CoV-2 wildtype. ATAC- sequencing was performed to identify a potential epigenetic reprogramming in immune cells. We neither identified SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies nor SARS-CoV-2- reactive T cells, indicating that intravesical BCG did not induce adaptive immunity against SARS-CoV-2. However, a significant increase in mRNA as well as protein expression of IL-1β, IL-6 and TNFα, which are key cytokines of trained immunity, could be observed after at least four intravesical BCG instillations. Genomic regions in the proximity of TI genes (
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