Clin Exp Vaccine Res.  2021 May;10(2):191-195. 10.7774/cevr.2021.10.2.191.

A possible protective role for Bacillus Calmette-Guérin therapy in urinary bladder cancer in the era of COVID-19: a brief report

• Moghadam SO
• Abbasi B
• Nowroozi A
• Amini E
• Nowroozi MR
• Momeni SA
• Niroomand H

• KMID: 2525811
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.7774/cevr.2021.10.2.191

Abstract

Given the systemic immunogenic effects of Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) therapy in patients with bladder cancer and its non-specific immunogenic effects in viral respiratory diseases, we aimed to study severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in bladder cancer patients with a history of BCG therapy. In the present study, all bladder cancer survivors with a history of BCG therapy were identified and included in the study according to the data recovered from the UORC (Uro-Oncology Research Center) registry database. These patients were followed up in terms of acquiring coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Among the studied patients, 102 eligible bladder cancer patients with a history of BCG therapy entered the study. The males constituted the majority of the patients (86.3%), and more than half of the study population (55.9%) were above 65 years old. Among the understudy patients, 12.7% were confirmed for COVID-19. The study results did not show a statistically significant association between the time and number of BCG therapy courses and SARS-CoV-2 infection. Although no statistically significant association was observed between receiving BCG therapy and developing COVID-19, the infection rate in patients who had recently received BCG therapy was lower than those who had received therapy more than a year ago.

Keyword

Urinary bladder neoplasms; BCG therapy; COVID-19