Involvement of Th17 cells in patients of urothelial carcinoma of bladder

Abstract

Bladder cancer is the second most common urologic malignancy after prostate with urothelial carcinoma accounting for 90% of all bladder cancers. Th17 cells representing novel subset of CD4(+) cells have well described roles in autoimmune diseases and inflammation. Recent studies suggest a potential impact of Th17 cells in tumor immunology. The implication of Th17 cells in bladder cancer can be judged by the expression of their related cytokines and a key transcription factor, RORγt which helps in the development of Th17 cells. Therefore, we aim to assess expression of Th17 related cytokines, RORγt and distribution of Th17 cells to understand its involvement in bladder cancer. In our study, frequency of Th17 cells was significantly higher (p-value <0.001) in patients than controls. Circulating levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-17A, IL-23 and IL-6 were also significantly elevated in patients. Relative mRNA expression of IL-17A and RORγt in PBMCs and fold change in gene expression in tissues was found to be significantly elevated. These findings indicate the possible involvement of Th17 cells in urothelial carcinoma of bladder. Further the data can be validated to better understand the role of Th17 cells in this disease which might help in formulating targeted therapeutic strategy in future.