Methods to assess anticancer immune responses in orthotopic bladder carcinomas
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Updated: Dec 27, 2025
Induction of Invasive Transitional Cell Bladder Carcinoma in Immune Intact Human MUC1 Transgenic Mice: A Model for Immunotherapy Development
Published on: October 30, 2013
1Department of Medicine, Section of Hematology/Oncology, Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States; Committee on Clinical Pharmacology and Pharmacogenomics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States; Committee on Immunology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States.
Abstract:
Urothelial bladder cancer is the most common malignancy of the urinary tract resulting in over 165,000 deaths worldwide. Immunotherapies targeting the programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1) checkpoint pathway were recently approved for the treatment of bladder cancer, but favorable responses to this treatment are still limited to a minority of patients. This resistance to therapy has driven a need to optimize syngeneic models of bladder cancer that enable evaluation of the tumor immune microenvironment under varying conditions. Several models have been in place for many years, and we discuss in this chapter the optimization of an orthotopic model of bladder cancer that can be employed to study the anti-tumor immune response.
Insights
Optimizing bladder cancer models is crucial for understanding treatment resistance to immunotherapies like PD-1 inhibitors. This research focuses on refining an orthotopic model to better study anti-tumor immune responses.
Area of Science:
- Oncology
- Immunology
- Urothelial Carcinomas
Background:
- Urothelial bladder cancer is a leading cause of cancer death globally.
- Current immunotherapies, such as PD-1 checkpoint inhibitors, show limited efficacy in many patients.
- Resistance to these therapies necessitates improved preclinical models for research.
Purpose of the Study:
- To optimize a syngeneic orthotopic bladder cancer model.
- To facilitate the evaluation of the tumor immune microenvironment.
- To aid in the study of anti-tumor immune responses.
Main Methods:
- Development and refinement of an orthotopic bladder cancer model.
- Characterization of the tumor immune microenvironment within the model.
- Assessment of the model's utility for studying immunotherapy response.
Main Results:
- An optimized orthotopic bladder cancer model was established.
- The model allows for detailed analysis of immune cell infiltration and function.
- This model serves as a valuable tool for investigating immunotherapy resistance.
Conclusions:
- Optimized bladder cancer models are essential for advancing immunotherapy research.
- The developed orthotopic model provides a platform for dissecting tumor-immune interactions.
- Further research using this model can lead to improved bladder cancer treatments.
