In order to clarify immunological role of bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) in the treatment of bladder cancer, human monocyte-mediated cytotoxicity against human bladder cancer cell lines was determined. The tumor cell lines utilized were: a superficial bladder cancer derived cell line KU7 and an invasive bladder cancer derived cell line T24. Peripheral blood was obtained from 20 healthy volunteers (control group) and 10 patients with bladder cancer. Monocytes were separated from peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) by adherence on fetal bovine serum (FBS) coated plastic dishes. Cytolytic effects of monocytes were observed by determining
3H-thymidine (
3H-TdR) releasing assay and cytostatic effects were observed by determining
3H-TdR incorporation inhibition assay. The former assay had an inherent disadvantage due to the reutilization of
3H-TdR. Therefore the latter assay was mainly used. The cytostatic effects against T24 in patients with bladder cancer were significantly lower as compared with that from control group (45.6±6.6%, 55.3±9.5%, p<0.05). When KU7 was used as a target, cytostatic effects of monocytes from each source, as determined by the same method, were also observed, however no significant difference in the cytostatic effects was noted. Cytostatic effects against each target of monocytes from control group were then determined, after incubation of the monocytes with BCG of four different strength for varying length of time. The highest cytostatic effect (KU7: 68.4±9.8%, T24: 75.1±10.6%) was observed with 7.5×10
6 viable units of Tokyo 172 strain BCG with which monocytes from control group and KU7 were cultured for 24 hours. Cytostatic index (C. I.) as calculated by a formula [ 1-cpm (BCG treated monocyte + target) /cpm (untreated monocyte + target)× 100] were 57.5±6.2 (KU7) and 42.7±11.8 (T24) when monocytes from control group were used in comparison with 23.8±8.2 (KU7) and 30.2±17.9 (T24) when monocytes from bladder cancer were used. C. I. of monocytes from control group was significantly higher than that from patients with bladder cancer when KU7 was used as target (p<0.001).
These results indicate a significant role of BCG as a nonspecific immuno modulator and this
in vitro study will provide a useful guideline to the treatment of bladder cancer.
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