Bladder cancer in patients after organ transplantation

Bladder cancer development in organ transplant recipients remains a complex problem to manage as it has been demonstrated that the clinical course seems worse than in the general population. Most of the reports on bladder cancer after organ transplantation were done for kidney transplantation. Both virally and nonvirally are involved in bladder tumor development. The immunosuppressed status of the transplant recipients renders the screening, the therapeutic management, and the post-treatment surveillance very difficult.

With the increase of organ transplantation, especially renal transplantation, graft survival, and age of donor and recipient, urological cancer, including bladder cancer, become a critical problem affecting the survival. The advent of the new immunosuppressed drugs, mTOR inhibitors, leads to the hope of improving both survivals of the graft and of the recipients.

The molecular pathway P13K/Akt/mTOR is frequently activated during human solid tumor development and progression. However, mTOR inhibitors are also used in order to avoid renal allograft rejection. The combination of both actions could significantly improve graft and organ recipient survival and could provide progresses in targeted therapy management of bladder cancer.