A systematic review of prognosis of ABO blood group and rhesus factor on outcomes in patients with bladder cancer

Bladder cancer (BC) is the 10th most common malignancy worldwide, and some studies reported that ABO blood type or/and rhesus factor has been identified as a prognostic oncologic marker for patients with BC. We carried out a systematic review to assess the prognosis of ABO blood group and rhesus factor on outcomes in patients with bladder cancer. METHODS: We searched databases through February 2022 for studies assessing blood group on outcomes in patients with bladder cancer. RESULTS: We included ten studies with 15,204 participants. We found that blood type A is relevant to non-muscle-invasive BC patients treated with transurethral resection of bladder tumor and blood type B patients have a lower incidence of disease recurrence and progression. Blood type O and non-O blood type have not been found to be related to disease recurrence. However, in multivariable analyses, blood type O and non-O blood type are associated with cancer-specific mortality (CSM). Other than that, blood type B doesn’t have statistical significance for BC patients accepted radical cystectomy (RC). The same results showed in blood type AB non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer patients treated with RC. CONCLUSIONS: Our study confirmed that a particular association of blood type for prognosis of patients with BC, and ABO blood group antigen expression can be suitable biomarkers for BC. We also found that rhesus factor has no impact on prognosis of BC patients.