ABSTRACT
Bacillus Calmette-Guerin(BCG) is widely used in the therapy of superficial bladder tumors. Clinical and animal studies suggest that immunological responsiveness to BCG antigens correlates with anti-tumor activity. But its mode of action is unclear. In this studies, we evaluated the changes of nitric oxide(NO) metabolite and tumor necrosis factor-alpha(TNF-alpha) in the urine of patients with superficial bladder tumors after BCG immunotherapy. Both NO and TNF-alpha in the urine specimens of patients treated with BCG were analyzed prior to BCG instillation and 4, 8 and 24 hours afterwards. After 6th BCG instillation. urinary NO increased significantly and showed a maximum of secretion at eight hours(p<0.05). After 6th BCG instillation, urinary TNF-alpha increased and showed a maximum of secretion at eight hours but had no statistical significance. These results suggest that intravesical BCG therapy increased the urinary NO and TNF-alpha secretion which may be related to the anti-tumor activity.