Urobiome in Gender—Related Diversities of Bladder Cancer
Konrad Bilski, Jakub Dobruch, Mieszko Kozikowski, Michał Skrzypczyk, Maciej Oszczudłowski, Jerzy Ostrowski
Abstract
Bladder cancer (BC) remains the most common malignancy of urinary tract. Sex-related differences in BC epidemiology, diagnosis, therapy, and outcomes have been reported. Throughout the recent years, extensive research has been devoted to genetic and molecular alterations in BC. Apart from the molecular background, another related concept which has been speculated to contribute to gender diversities in BC is the role of urinary pathogens in bladder carcinogenesis. Microbiome studies, fueled by the availability of high-throughput DNA-based techniques, have shown that perturbation in the microbiome is associated with various human diseases. The aim of this review is to comprehensively analyze the current literature according to sex-related differences in the microbiome composition in BC.