Background: Mast cells play a critical role in tumor-associated immune pathways. We aimed to determine whether the urinary mast cell mediators predict the immune response in patients with non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) treated with Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) immunotherapy. Methods: Nineteen patients who have received immunotherapy due to NMIBC and 19 healthy participants were enrolled. Urine samples were collected to assay N-methylhistamine, histamine, and tryptase levels immediately before the first BCG instillation, immediately after the third and sixth instillations, and four weeks after the sixth instillation in patients with NMIBC and at a single visit in healthy participants. Cystoscopic examinations were performed on the patient with NMIBC at three-month intervals for two years. The changes in urinary markers due to BCC response, BCG instillation, and the presence of NMIBC were assessed. Results: The average age was 56.1 ± 10.5 years in patients with NMIBC. Fourteen patients had high-grade Ta tumors, and 5 had high-grade T1 tumors. While 12 patients responded, 6 presented with recurrence and 1 with progression. There was no correlation between the levels of mast cell mediators and BCG response. The N-methylhistamine and histamine levels were increased significantly with the onset of immunotherapy, and N-methylhistamine levels were significantly decreased when immunotherapy was terminated. Pre-BCG estimated marginal means of N-methylhistamine were significantly higher in patients with NMIBC than healthy participants. Conclusions: Our study is the first study to identify the changes in mast cell mediators with the onset of immunotherapy and with the presence of bladder cancer. However, these mediators were not found to predict the patients’ response to immunotherapy.

Background: Mast cells play a critical role in tumor-associated immune pathways. We aimed to prospectively investigate the urinary mast cell mediators in patients with non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) treated with Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) immunotherapy. Methods: Nineteen patients who have received immunotherapy due to NMIBC and 19 healthy participants were enrolled. Urine samples were collected to assay N-methylhistamine, histamine and tryptase levels immediately before the first BCG instillation, immediately after the third and sixth instillations, and four weeks after the sixth instillation in patients with NMIBC and at a single visit in healthy participants. Cystoscopic examinations were performed on the patient with NMIBC at three-month intervals for two years. The changes in urinary markers due to BCC response, BCG instillation, and the presence of NMIBC were assessed. Results: The average age was 56.1 ± 10.5 years in patients with NMIBC. Fourteen patients had high-grade Ta tumors, and 5 had high-grade T1 tumors. While 12 patients responded, 6 presented with recurrence and 1 with progression. There was no correlation between the levels of mast cell mediators and BCG response. The N-methylhistamine and histamine levels were increased significantly with the onset of immunotherapy and N-methylhistamine levels were decreased significantly when immunotherapy was terminated. Pre-BCG estimated marginal means of N-methylhistamine were significantly higher in patients with NMIBC than healthy participants. Conclusions: This is the first study to determine that urine histamine and N-methylhistamine levels showing the change with immunotherapy. However, these mediators were not found to predict the patients’ response to immunotherapy.

Background: Renal carcinoma and associated venous thrombosis cause-specific perioperative and postoperative challenges. We aimed to evaluate the factors affecting clinical outcomes in patients undergoing radical surgery due to renal carcinoma and associated venous thrombosis. Materials and methods: Hospital records were retrospectively reviewed to identify patients with renal carcinoma and associated venous thrombosis treated with radical surgery between 2006 and 2019. Preoperative, perioperative, and postoperative findings were analyzed to determine the associations between clinical and survival outcomes. Overall and disease-free survival was analyzed by the Kaplan-Meier method. Other associated prognostic variables were assessed using univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses. Results: Thirty-three patients with renal carcinoma and associated venous thrombosis were enrolled for this study. There were 15 (45.4%) patients with level I, five (15.2%) with level II, eight (24.2%) with level III, and five (15.2%) with level IV venous thrombosis according to the Mayo Clinic classification system. The median follow-up was 35.6 months. In the univariate analysis, increased tumor size was associated with poor overall and disease-free survival. Preoperative clinic M1 disease was associated with poor overall survival. A high Mayo Clinic thrombus level was associated with poor disease-free survival. In the multivariate analysis, only tumor size and clinic M1 disease were independently correlated with poor overall survival. No independent statistically significant association was detected between thrombus level and survival outcomes. Conclusions: Although the thrombus level was not associated with overall and disease-free survival, tumor size and clinic M1 disease were found to have an independent prognostic impact on overall survival.