URINARY INTERLEUKIN-8 CREATININE LEVEL AS A PREDICTOR OF RESPONSE TO INTRAVESICAL BACILLUS-CALMETTE-GUERIN THERAPY IN BLADDER-TUMOR PATIENTS/

Purpose: Our purpose was to determine whether urinary interleukin-8 (I L-8) levels could be used to predict a tumor-free response to intraves ical bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) therapy in bladder cancer patients . Materials and Methods: A total of 46 patients with superficial bladd er cancer underwent an initial ii-week course of intravesical BCG ther apy after transurethral resection. Voided urine samples were collected immediately before BCG instillations 1 and 6, Urine samples were cent rifuged at 1,500 rpm for 8 minutes, and the supernatant was stored at -20C. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay technique was used to measu re urinary IL-8 levels. The Jaffe method was used to measure urinary c reatinine. Results were expressed as the IL-8/creatinine ratio, Patien ts were followed with cystoscopy and urinary cytology every 3 months t o detect bladder tumor recurrence, Results: IL-8/creatinine ratios wer e measured in 31 patients before BCG therapy and were undetectable in 15. After 5 weeks of intravesical BCG therapy, IL-8/creatinine ratios fell in 27 patients (59%), were unchanged in IO (22%) and rose in 9 (1 9%). Mean followup was 20.9 months (range 3 to 48), There was no assoc iation between the direction of change in IL-8/creatinine ratio and re sponse to intravesical BCG therapy (p = 0.5). Conclusions: Urinary IL- 8 levels obtained before intravesical BCG; therapy and after instillat ion 5 of ECG were not helpful in predicting tumor recurrences in bladd er cancer patients.