Interferons and bladder cancer

With the introduction of BCG, intravesical instillation of immunotherapeuti c agents has become a mainstay of therapy in the treatment of superficial b ladder cancer. Interferon is capable of inducing a non-specific cellular an d humoral immune response towards tumor cells. It has shown promise in redu cing the recurrence and progression rates of superficial bladder cancer, in contrast to BCG, intravesical interferon is associated with minimal side e ffects and a very low dropout rate. Current research has focused on the use of interferon in combination with immunotherapeutic and cytotoxic drugs.