Prediction of Bacillus Calmette-Guerin Response in Patients with Bladder Cancer after Transurethral Resection of Bladder Tumor by Using Genetic Variation Based on Genomic Studies

Purpose. We aimed to comprehensively review contemporary literature on genetic and epigenetic biomarkers associated with the prediction of Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) response after the transurethral resection of a bladder tumor and to discuss the application of these biomarkers in precision cancer care for bladder cancer. Method. We performed a systematic review of published literatures in the databases PubMed and Embase by using the following key words: bladder cancer, BCG, gene, and methylation. Studies associated with cell lines, animal models, and muscle invasive bladder cancer were excluded. Results. The genetic variations associated with BCG response can be classified into three categories: germline variations, somatic variations, and epigenetic alterations. Genes related to BCG response were mainly involved in single-nucleotide polymorphisms, copy number variations, and gene methylations. Conclusions. Although these gene alterations are currently the most promising predictive markers of BCG response, most studies about bladder cancer DNA biomarkers are related to germline variations in candidate genes, and the results are not consistent. Only one study is related to somatic variation, and further evaluation in large-scale validation studies should be conducted to assess the potential clinical application of these findings. In addition, other biomarkers based on different “–omics” technologies should be considered in future studies.