Abstract
Current analgesic treatments for Interstitial Cystitis/Bladder Pain Syndrome (IC/BPS) are limited. Here, we propose a novel antinociceptive strategy exploiting the opioid-mediated analgesic properties of T lymphocytes to relieve from bladder pain. In a chronic model of IC/BPS in rats, we show that a secondary T cell response against intravesically administered ovalbumin prevents from visceral pain in OVA-primed animals. The analgesic effect is associated with the recruitment of T lymphocytes within the inflamed mucosa and is reversed by naloxone-methiodide, a peripheral opioid receptor antagonist. Similarly, intravesical instillation of BCG or tetanus toxoid antigens in vaccinated rats protects from pain in the same model. We show opioid-dependent analgesic properties of local vaccine antigen recall in a preclinical rat model of chronic cystitis. Since BCG bladder instillation is regularly used in humans (as anticancer therapy), our results open it as a new therapeutic positioning for a pain management indication for IC/BPS patients.