Author:
Gilbert Brent,Naidoo Taryn
Abstract
Microbiome studies, fueled by the availability of high-throughput DNA-based techniques, have shown that microbiome alterations is associated with human disease including cancer. Traditionally, bladder epithelium and urine have been considered sterile in healthy individuals. This was based primarily on microbiological urine cultures, best suited for detecting aerobic, fast-growing uropathogens. Microbiome and new culturing techniques have shown that urine is not sterile but contains distinct commensal microorganisms and that alterations in commensal bladder microbes is associated with bladder cancer. This chapter focuses on identifying commensal and tumorigenic bladder bacteria, the alterations that occur in bladder cancer and impact on current treatments.