New publication: immunological impact of Blue Light Cystoscopy with hexaminolevulinate in bladder cancer
Photocure ASA, The Bladder Cancer Company, announces the publication of the study “Immune Contexture Changes Following Blue Light Cystoscopy with Hexaminolevulinate in Bladder Cancer” in the journal European Urology Open Science. The project conducted at Department of Molecular Medicine, Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark, presents results from a pilot study of bladder cancer patients, showing that blue light cystoscopy (BLC®) with Hexaminolevulinate (HAL) during TURBT* may influence the immune cell composition and tumor microenvironment.
The findings were presented at the EAU congress in March 2023 and the complete results are now published in the European Urology Open Science journal. The findings suggest that BLC-guided TURBT with the metabolic photosensitizer HAL which has a preferential tumor accumulation alters the expression of immune cells of both the adaptive and innate immune system compared to WLC-guided TURBT. TURBT samples from bladder cancer patients were used to investigate if a change in tumor microenvironment composition could be observed as an effect of Hexaminolevulinate (HAL)-assisted blue light cystoscopy (BLC).
Changes to the tumor microenvironment and immune cell composition and functions play an important role in cancer progression and therapeutic response andmay indicate a potential clinical treatment effect beyond pure visualization and detection for HAL-BLC. The authors state: “In this study we investigated the potential therapeutic effect of BLC-guided TURBT compared to WLC-guided TURBT in patients with bladder cancer. We found changes in immune cell composition, which may have been influenced by the BLC-guided TURBT... BLC-TURBT might be beneficial compared to NBI because of the proposed additional antitumor effect of BLC-TURBT, whereas NBI only utilizes light exposure and no photosensitizer and will not have an effect beyond detection.” Further studies are required to validate the clinical impact of these observations.
The study was supported by Photocure ASA.
Read the full publication here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666168323018098
*TURBT: Transurethral resection of bladder tumor