Clinical Trials

Interstitial cystitis/painful bladder syndrome (IC) is characterized by chronic pelvic pain and voiding dysfunction. IC remains an enigma within urology, with no known etiology or widely effective therapies. However, some IC patients suffer bowel co-morbidities, and it is well established that the GI tract can influence bladder function and sensation via pelvic organ crosstalk. Like other body sites, the gut harbors a rich microflora. Studies characterizing microbial diversity and relative abundance at a particular body site, the “microbiome,” reveal that microbiomes play critical roles in normal cellular and organ function, and thus this importance is emphasized with the Human Microbiome Project (HMP), an NIH Common Fund initiative. Microbiomes are also dynamic and subject to skewing, and these changes are increasingly associated with diseases including Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, and obesity. Antibiotic therapies alter microbiomes, often causing temporary dysfunction and sometimes resulting in diseases such as colitis. Since IC patients often have a history of urinary tract infection (UTI), they typically receive multiple courses of antibiotics. This therapeutic history of IC patients may have adverse consequences for two reasons. First, potential skewing of the gut microbiome may alter normal sensory and functional homeostatic mechanisms, contributing to pain and voiding dysfunction. Second, an altered gut microbiome may foster uropathogen reservoir expansion, and our preliminary data demonstrate urinary E. coli isolates can induce chronic pelvic pain persisting long after microbial clearance. Together these lines of reasoning raise the provocative possibility that microbiomes contribute to IC directly by supplying uropathogens or indirectly through organ crosstalk dysfunction. Therefore, is an altered gastrointestinal and/or reproductive tract microbiome associated with IC? Our team marries core NIH and NIDDK missions, digestive diseases and kidney/urologic, to address this novel question with synergistic expertise in clinical diagnosis of IC, quantifying GI and reproductive tract microbiomes, and mechanisms of microbe-induced pelvic pain.

This is an open-labeled, non-randomized feasibility study to evaluate the safety of prostate artery embolization (PAE) for the treatment of lower urinary tract symptoms attributed to benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH).

Purpose The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy (the effect of drug on tumor) and the tolerability (the effect of drug on the body) of Pembrolizumab, when given as a single agent in patients with bladder tumors. Another purpose of the study is to see what tumor characteristics are associated with increased efficacy of the Pembrolizumab. Overview Pembrolizumab (MK-3475) is an antibody (a human protein that sticks to a part of the tumor and/or immune cells) designed to allow the body‰Ûªs immune system to work against tumor cells. Pembrolizumab is FDA approved for the treatment of advanced melanoma (a type of skin cancer) and some types of lung cancer. It is not yet approved by the USFDA for bladder cancer, hence it is considered an investigational agent for this disease. Description of Treatment All study participants will take the same study drug, Pembrolizumab. Pembrolizumab will be given intravesically through urethra. With intravesical therapy, doctor administers the drug directly into the bladder (through a catheter), rather than giving it by mouth or injecting it into a vein. During the first six weeks of therapy, one will also receive treatment with BCG as a standard of care. We expect that one will receive treatment for up to 1 year or until your disease gets worse (whichever occurs first). After completing treatment, the study team will continue to watch you for side effects for at least 30 days. The study team will also continue to check periodically to see how you are doing until your disease returns.

Genetic research may discover genes, find out how genes function, or help researchers learn how to use what we know about genes to treat or prevent and treat disease. The purpose is to study whether the results of genetic testing can predict if bladder cancer is going to recur, progress (get worse), or respond to chemotherapy.

The purpose of this study is to collect blood samples to help find new ways to treat diseases. Our lab develops small particles that have the potential to be useful for the delivery of therapeutic agents like anticancer drugs to cells or to remove biotoxins from the human body. We would like to test in the laboratory if these particles have any harmful effects on human blood cells. You will not come in contact with these particles, and all experiments will be performed on the blood sample only. You will be asked to provide a blood sample. About 10mls or approximately 2 tablespoons will be drawn.