Introduction
Bacillus Calmette-Guerin is an attenuated strain of the human pathogenic tuberculosis pathogen Mycobacterium bovis. BCG gained particular importance through its use as a tuberculosis vaccine. The vaccination is obsolete, but BCG is used in the adjuvant therapy of bladder cancer. It was developed by the French scientists Albert Calmette and Camille Guérin at the beginning of the 20th century.
Immunotherapy for bladder cancer
The non-muscle-invasive urothelial carcinoma of the urinary bladder (NMIBC) has long been considered an immunologically influenceable malignancy. In addition to transurethral bladder tumour resection, the standard therapy in this risk constellation is adjuvant BCG instillation therapy (Bacillus Calmette-Guérin). It has been shown that BCG installations reduce the recurrence tumour rate. The exact immunological mechanisms, the anti-tumor effect of BCG, are not yet fully understood.