Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) therapy lowers the incidence of Alzheimer's disease in bladder cancer patients

PLoS One. 2019 Nov 7;14(11):e0224433. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0224433. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) affects one in ten people older than 65 years. Thus far, there is no cure or even disease-modifying treatment for this disease. The immune system is a major player in the pathogenesis of AD. Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG), developed as a vaccine against tuberculosis, modulates the immune system and reduces recurrence of non-muscle invasive bladder cancer. Theoretical considerations suggested that treatment with BCG may decrease the risk of AD. We tested this hypothesis on a natural population of bladder cancer patients.

Methods and findings: After removing all bladder cancer patients presenting with AD or developing AD within one-year following diagnosis of bladder cancer, we collected data on a total of 1371 patients (1134 males and 237 females) who were followed for at least one year after the diagnosis of bladder cancer. The mean age at diagnosis of bladder cancer was 68.1 years (SD 13.0). Adjuvant post-operative intra-vesical treatment with BCG was given to 878 (64%) of these patients. The median period post-operative follow-up was 8 years. During follow-up, 65 patients developed AD at a mean age of 84 years (SD 5.9), including 21 patients (2.4%) who had been treated with BCG and 44 patients (8.9%) who had not received BCG. Patients who had been treated with BCG manifested more than 4-fold less risk for AD than those not treated with BCG. The Cox proportional hazards regression model and the Kaplan-Meier analysis of AD free survival both indicated high significance: patients not treated with BCG had a significantly higher risk of developing AD compared to BCG treated patients (HR 4.778, 95%CI: 2.837-8.046, p = 4.08x10-9 and Log Rank Chi-square 42.438, df = 1, p = 7.30x10-11, respectively). Exposure to BCG did not modify the prevalence of Parkinson's disease, 1.9% in BCG treated patients and 1.6% in untreated (Fisher's Exact Test, p = 1).

Conclusions: Bladder cancer patients treated with BCG were significantly less likely to develop AD at any age than patients who were not so treated. This finding of a retrospective study suggests that BCG treatment might also reduce the incidence of AD in the general population. Confirmation of such effects of BCG in other retrospective studies would support prospective studies of BCG in AD.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Alzheimer Disease / complications
  • Alzheimer Disease / drug therapy*
  • Alzheimer Disease / pathology
  • Animals
  • BCG Vaccine / administration & dosage*
  • Disease Progression
  • Disease-Free Survival
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Kaplan-Meier Estimate
  • Male
  • Mice
  • Middle Aged
  • Mycobacterium bovis / genetics
  • Mycobacterium bovis / immunology
  • Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / drug therapy*
  • Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / pathology
  • Treatment Outcome
  • Urinary Bladder Neoplasms / complications
  • Urinary Bladder Neoplasms / drug therapy*
  • Urinary Bladder Neoplasms / pathology

Substances

  • BCG Vaccine

Grants and funding

Alzheimer’s Germ Quest, Inc. is a privately held company, founded in 2017, and controlled by Dr. Leslie Norins and his wife, Rainey. This company provides small grants ($10,000 in our case) to investigate the idea of the possibility that Alzheimer’s Disease was actually an infection of an unusual type without any request to the granted researchers. The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.