The article by Buisan and colleagues [1], with an accompanying editorial by Meeks [2], addresses priming of the immune system to enhance responses to bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) therapy in non–muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). This concept was first suggested in 1987, when patients with a positive purified protein derivative (PPD) tuberculin skin test owing to prior antituberculous vaccine had better outcomes than PPD-negative patients [3]. Furthermore, among patients who had received combined intradermal + intravesical BCG, PPD test conversion from nonreactive to reactive occurred in 61%, compared to 60% of patients who received intravesical BCG alone.
European Urology published a clinical update in Research Highlights on 12 Jan 2026.
The item focuses on Re: Oscar Buisan, Pol Servian, Sonia Pedreño-Lopez, et al.
A Novel Heterologous Prime-boost Strategy Using RUTI Vaccine to Improve the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin Response in Non–muscle-invasive Bladder Cancer Patients: Phase 1 RUTIVAC-1 Trial.
Eur Urol.
In press.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eururo.2025.08.014.
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