AI Summary & Key Takeaways
AI InsightDepending on the results of these ongoing studies, immunotherapy may direct the treatment of bladder cancer in the future
📌 3 Key Takeaways
Abstract
Since intravesical Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) began to be used for bladder cancer, our understanding of the importance of immune mechanisms in bladder cancer has steadily grown. With developments in immunotherapy in recent years, the use of new immunotherapeutic agents for bladder cancer, especially chemotherapy-resistant invasive and metastatic cancers, has opened the way for research in this area. Of these new therapeutic agents, this article reviews studies published on PubMed or listed on the ClinicalTrials.gov website as of December 2017 regarding the effects and mechanisms of action of checkpoint inhibitors [cytotoxic t-lymphocyte associated protein-4, programmed cell death 1 receptor (PD-1) and PD-1 ligand inhibitors] on bladder cancer. Because checkpoint inhibitors were first used for chemotherapy-resistant bladder cancer after identification of positive expression in tumor cells and especially in tumor-infiltrating mononuclear cells, significant objective response rates and survival advantages have been reported. Research continues regarding the use of these agents as first- and second-line treatment for metastatic disease in combination with chemotherapy; their efficacy in neoadjuvant, adjuvant, and bladder-preserving approaches to muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) disease, and their use in non-muscle-invasize bladder cancer (NMIBC), especially BCG-refractory disease. Depending on the results of these ongoing studies, immunotherapy may direct the treatment of bladder cancer in the future