Gender differences in urothelial bladder cancer: Effects of natural killer lymphocyte immunity

Charles T. Lutz, Lydia Livas, Steven R. Presnell, Morgan Sexton, Peng Wang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

Men are more likely to develop cancer than women. In fact, male predominance is one of the most consistent cancer epidemiology findings. Additionally, men have a poorer prognosis and an increased risk of secondary malignancies compared to women. These differences have been investigated in order to better understand cancer and to better treat both men and women. In this review, we discuss factors that may cause this gender difference, focusing on urothelial bladder cancer (UBC) pathogenesis. We consider physiological factors that may cause higher male cancer rates, including differences in X chromosome gene expression. We discuss how androgens may promote bladder cancer development directly by stimulating bladder urothelium and indirectly by suppressing immunity. We are particularly interested in the role of natural killer (NK) cells in anti-cancer immunity.

Original languageEnglish
Article number5163
JournalJournal of Clinical Medicine
Volume10
Issue number21
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 1 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Funding: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Kentucky. The UK Flow Cytometry and Immune Monitoring core facility is supported in part by the Office of the Vice President for Research, the Markey Cancer Center, and an NCI Center Core Support Grant (P30 CA177558) to the University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center.

Funding Information:
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Kentucky. The UK Flow Cytometry and Immune Monitoring core facility is supported in part by the Office of the Vice President for Research, the Markey Cancer Center, and an NCI Center Core Support Grant (P30 CA177558) to the University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Keywords

  • Androgens
  • Immunosuppression
  • Natural killer cells
  • Sex factors
  • Urothelial bladder cancer
  • X chromosome

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Medicine (all)

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