{
  "abstract": "Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) is the standard adjuvant therapy for early-stage bladder cancer, based on its immunostimulatory activity. However, more than half of patients experience BCG failure and subsequent recurrence. The heterogeneity of the tumor microenvironment may influence BCG response; however, this relationship is currently not well established. We found that BCG response did not correlate with the number of tumor-infiltrating T cells but was determined by the pretreatment immunosuppressive microenvironment. We identified a subset of cancer-associated fibroblasts characterized by microfibrillar-associated protein 2 (MFAP2+ CAF), which impaired BCG-induced antitumoral immunity by interacting with both individual T cells and tertiary lymphoid structures/lymphoid aggregates. This study also revealed a potential stepwise activation of cancer immune evasion factors based on cross-sectional analysis, from increasing MFAP2+ CAF to activation of programmed cell death ligand 1 and then lymphocyte-activation gene 3 on T cells during early-stage bladder cancer development. These findings have the potential to enable accurate prediction of BCG response. This approach may also be applicable to the investigation of other human cancers.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Institute of Urology, Lanzhou University Second Hospital, Key Laboratory of Gansu Province for Urological Diseases, Gansu Urological Clinical Center, Lanzhou, China.",
    "Department of Pathology, Lanzhou University Second Hospital, Lanzhou, China.",
    "Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Brown University Warren Alpert Medical School, The Legorreta Cancer Center at Brown University, Brown University Health, Providence, Rhode Island.",
    "Department of Surgery (Urology), Brown University Warren Alpert Medical School, The Legorreta Cancer Center at Brown University, Brown University Health, Providence, Rhode Island.",
    "Centre for Cancer Biomarkers and Biotherapeutics, Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, London, United Kingdom."
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 15,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Yufeng Guo",
      "orcid": "0009-0006-0580-0236"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Xuezhao Ren",
      "orcid": "0009-0006-4426-5344"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Ze Zhang",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-6335-6491"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Hui Cheng",
      "orcid": "0009-0009-2417-202X"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Jin-Peng Ma",
      "orcid": "0009-0005-5403-9845"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Hong Yan",
      "orcid": "0009-0009-9296-5777"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Qian Niu",
      "orcid": "0009-0003-6832-5987"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Xinyu Zhang",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-6270-4623"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Luyang Zhang",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-6765-1252"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Junqiang Tian",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-4529-4650"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Zhilong Dong",
      "orcid": "0009-0001-8862-4445"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2,
        3
      ],
      "name": "Hanzhang Wang",
      "orcid": "0009-0002-3558-7668"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2,
        3
      ],
      "name": "Liang Cheng",
      "orcid": "0009-0004-2260-6254"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4
      ],
      "name": "Yong-Jie Lu",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-6174-6621"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Zhiping Wang",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-8140-591X"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/a5ezj36wrc1cx.bib",
  "cited_by": 1,
  "doi": "10.1158/2326-6066.cir-25-1445",
  "fulltext_url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13728806/",
  "id": "a5ezj36wrc1cx",
  "issns": [
    "2326-6066",
    "2326-6074"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.1158/2326-6066.cir-25-1445",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY-NC-ND 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "heading",
      "Biomarkers"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Bladder Cancer"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Checkpoint Blockade"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Genitourinary Cancers"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Immunotherapy"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Research Articles"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Tumor Microenvironment"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2746|Bladder and Urothelial Cancer Treatments"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7202197351",
  "pdf_url": null,
  "pmcid": "PMC13728806",
  "pmid": "42578982",
  "published": "2026-08-11",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/a5ezj36wrc1cx.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-07T12:21:42Z",
      "native_id": "PMC13728806",
      "source": "pmc",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1158/2326-6066.cir-25-1445"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "openalex:2746|Bladder and Urothelial Cancer Treatments",
      "subfield": "surgery"
    }
  ],
  "title": "The Pretreatment Tumor Microenvironment Immune Status Determines Bacillus Calmette–Guerin Immunotherapy Response in Early-Stage Bladder Cancer",
  "title_text": "The Pretreatment Tumor Microenvironment Immune Status Determines Bacillus Calmette–Guerin Immunotherapy Response in Early-Stage Bladder Cancer",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-07T12:21:42Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/a5ezj36wrc1cx",
  "venue": "Cancer Immunology Research",
  "versions": []
}