Tumorspecific T-cell Immunity in Bladder Cancer as Prognostic Marker

Prospective Characterization of Tumor-specific T-cell Immunity in Muscle-invasive Bladder Cancer and Its Correlation With Clinical Parameters

Bladder cancer is generally susceptible to immunotherapeutic measures. The investigators will characterize 40 patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer regarding the existence and frequency of tumorspecific T-cells and regulatory T cells. The found data will be correlated to clinical data such as the cancer-specific survival and the response to chemotherapy.

It is hypothesized that those patients with a high number of Tregs and no tumor-specific T-cells have a worse prognosis.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Histologically confirmed muscle-invasive urothelial carcinoma
• Age > 18 years
• Hemoglobin > 10g/dl
• Signed Informed Consent
• Karnofsky index < 70%

Exclusion Criteria:

• Clinically relevant second malignancy
• Severe comorbidities (e.g. NYHA III, end-stage renal disease)
• Chronic infectious disease (HIV, Tuberculosis)
• Immunosupression
• Severe psychiatric diseases
• Blood donation in the last 4 weeks