TY - JOUR TI - Immunotherapy options for painful bladder syndrome: what’s the potential? AU - Mykoniatis, I. AU - Katafigiotis, I. AU - Sfoungaristos, S. AU - Yutkin, V. JO - Expert Opinion on Biological Therapy PY - 2017 VL - 17 TODO - 12 SP - 1471-1480 PB - Taylor and Francis Ltd. SN - 1471-2598, 1744-7682 TODO - 10.1080/14712598.2017.1375094 TODO - adalimumab; BCG vaccine; cyclosporin A; immunomodulating agent; rosiptor; steroid; suplatast tosylate; urinary tract agent; 4-(4-(aminomethyl)-7a-methyl-1-methylideneoctahydro-1H-inden-5-yl)-3-(hydroxymethyl)-4-methylcyclohexan-1-ol; BCG vaccine; cyclohexanol derivative; indan derivative; monoclonal antibody; nerve growth factor; tumor necrosis factor, human; immunopathogenesis; immunosuppressive treatment; immunotherapy; interstitial cystitis; nonhuman; Review; steroid therapy; systemic therapy; immunology; interstitial cystitis; pathology, Adalimumab; Antibodies, Monoclonal; BCG Vaccine; Cyclohexanols; Cystitis, Interstitial; Humans; Immunotherapy; Indans; Nerve Growth Factor; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha TODO - Introduction: Painful bladder syndrome/interstitial cystitis (PBS/IC) is an enigmatic disease characterized by lack of evidence-based knowledge and an ongoing scientific debate regarding its definition, pathogenesis, diagnostic and treatment algorithm. An autoimmune theory for PBS/IC etiology has suggested immunotherapy as a potential treatment choice. Areas covered: In this review, the authors report existing and future immunotherapeutic options, potentially valuable to the management of PBS/IC while evidence for the immunological aspect of PBS/IC pathogenesis are also presented. Relevant data reported in human clinical studies but also in experimental studies using animal PBS/IC models have been reviewed. Expert opinion: Promising data has emerged lately regarding use of immunotherapy drugs for PBS/IC treatment. Specifically, human monoclonal antibodies inhibiting nerve growth factor and tumor necrosis factor-a have shown high efficacy in pain control for PBS/IC. Also, many other agents modulating immunopathways linked to PBS symptom etiology and leading to positive treatment effects have been reported lately mainly in experimental animal studies. Immunotherapy could potentially improve disease-related and patient-reported outcome; nevertheless, lack of consensus regarding PBS/IC diagnostic criteria, leading to high heterogeneity of patients enrolled in PBS/IC treatment studies, and low number of well-designed randomized clinical trials are limitations which must be addressed in the future. © 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. ER -