Adjuvant Immune Checkpoint Inhibition in Muscle-invasive Bladder Cancer: Is It Ready for Prime Time?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adi Kartolo ◽  
Wassim Kassouf ◽  
Francisco E. Vera-Badillo
Keyword(s):  
Bladder Cancer ◽  
Immune Checkpoint ◽  
Invasive Bladder Cancer ◽  
Prime Time ◽  
Checkpoint Inhibition ◽  
Immune Checkpoint Inhibition ◽  
Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer ◽  
Muscle Invasive

scholarly journals Perioperative Systemic Treatment for Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer: Current Evidence and Future Perspectives

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (13) ◽  
pp. 7201
Author(s):  
In-Ho Kim ◽  
Hyo-Jin Lee
Keyword(s):  
Bladder Cancer ◽  
Immune Checkpoint ◽  
Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽  
Systemic Treatment ◽  
Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽  
Invasive Bladder Cancer ◽  
Current Evidence ◽  
Future Perspectives ◽  
Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer ◽  
Muscle Invasive

Radical cystectomy is the primary treatment for muscle-invasive bladder cancer; however, approximately 50% of patients develop metastatic disease within 2 years of diagnosis, which results in dismal prognosis. Therefore, systemic treatment is important to improve the prognosis of muscle-invasive bladder cancer. Currently, several guidelines recommend cisplatin-based neoadjuvant chemotherapy before radical cystectomy, and adjuvant chemotherapy is recommended in patients who have not received neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Immune checkpoint inhibitors have recently become the standard treatment option for metastatic urothelial carcinoma. Owing to their clinical benefits, several immune checkpoint inhibitors, with or without other agents (including other immunotherapy, cytotoxic chemotherapy, and emerging agents such as antibody drug conjugates), are being extensively investigated in perioperative settings. Several studies for perioperative immunotherapy have shown that immune checkpoint inhibitors have promising efficacy with relatively low toxicity, and have explored the predictive molecular biomarkers. Herein, we review the current evidence and discuss the future perspectives of perioperative systemic treatment for muscle-invasive bladder cancer.

scholarly journals Neoadjuvant Immunotherapy for Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer

Medicina ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 57 (8) ◽  
pp. 769
Author(s):  
Arthur Peyrottes ◽  
Idir Ouzaid ◽  
Gianluigi Califano ◽  
Jean-Francois Hermieu ◽  
Evanguelos Xylinas
Keyword(s):  
Bladder Cancer ◽  
Clinical Trials ◽  
Immune Checkpoint ◽  
Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor ◽  
Response Rate ◽  
Checkpoint Inhibitor ◽  
Invasive Bladder Cancer ◽  
Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer ◽  
Neoadjuvant Immunotherapy ◽  
Muscle Invasive

Background and Objectives: Facing neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by surgery, neoadjuvant immunotherapy is an innovative concept in localized muscle-invasive bladder cancer. Herein, we performed a review of the available and ongoing evidence supporting immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) administration in the early stages of bladder cancer treatment. Materials and Methods: A literature search was performed on Medline and clinical trials databases, using the terms: “bladder cancer” OR “urothelial carcinoma”, AND “neoadjuvant immunotherapy” OR “preoperative immunotherapy”. We restricted our investigations to prospective clinical trials evaluating anti-PD-(L)1 and anti-CTLA-4 monoclonal antibodies. Data on efficacy, toxicity and potential biomarkers of response were retrieved. Results: The search identified 6 ICIs that were tested in the neoadjuvant setting for localized bladder cancer—4 anti-PD-(L)1 inhibitors (Pembrolizumab, Atezolizumab, Nivolumab and Durvalumab) and 2 anti-CTLA-4 inhibitors (Ipilimumab and Tremelimumab). Most of the existing literature was based on single-arm phase 2 clinical trials that included from 23 to 143 patients. The pathological complete response rate (pCR) and pathological response rate (pRR) ranged from 31% to 46% and from 55.9% to 66%, respectively. Survival data were immature at this time. The safety profile was acceptable, with severe treatment-related adverse events ranging from 6% to 41%. Conclusions: The results of early phase trials are encouraging, and more investigations are needed to strengthen the rationale for immune checkpoint inhibitor administration in localized muscle-invasive bladder cancer.

Neoadjuvant or adjuvant immunotherapy in bladder cancer: biological opportunity or clinical utility?

2021 ◽  
pp. 030089162110616
Author(s):  
Fausto Petrelli ◽  
Gianluca Perego ◽  
Ivano Vavassori ◽  
Andrea Luciani
Keyword(s):  
Bladder Cancer ◽  
Immune Checkpoint ◽  
Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽  
Urothelial Cancer ◽  
Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽  
Phase Iii ◽  
Invasive Bladder Cancer ◽  
Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer ◽  
Cancer Of The Bladder ◽  
Muscle Invasive

In urothelial cancer of the bladder, the introduction of immunotherapy with immune checkpoint inhibitors represents progress in the management of the disease’s early and advanced stages. In particular, recent studies have implemented these drugs in the neoadjuvant and adjuvant phases to treat muscle-invasive bladder cancer. In some studies, patients received neoadjuvant immune checkpoint inhibitors alone (PURE and ABACUS) to treat muscle invasive bladder cancer, whereas other studies provided this therapy to cisplatin-ineligible patients. Furthermore, a large Phase III study (CheckMate 247) compared placebo with adjuvant nivolumab therapy in patients with high-risk urothelial cancer after neoadjuvant chemotherapy and surgery or surgery alone. Despite some uncertain niches (nonbladder, PD-L1-negative tumors, and node-negative resected cancers), certain biological opportunities (exploring new targets, evaluating in vivo pathologic response, focusing on biomarkers for response) and clinical uses (avoiding chemotherapy at all or in frail patients, attaining similar pathologic complete response rates as in cisplatin-based chemotherapy) are valid reasons for incorporating these agents into the therapeutic armamentarium of medical uro-oncologists.

Subclonal mutational heterogeneity and survival in cisplatin-resistant muscle-invasive bladder cancer.

2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. 4512-4512
Author(s):  
David Liu ◽  
Philip Abbosh ◽  
Daniel Keliher ◽  
Brendan Reardon ◽  
Kent William Mouw ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cell Cycle ◽  
Overall Survival ◽  
Bladder Cancer ◽  
Immune Checkpoint ◽  
Intratumoral Heterogeneity ◽  
Post Treatment ◽  
Cox Proportional Hazards Model ◽  
Invasive Bladder Cancer ◽  
Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer ◽  
Muscle Invasive

4512 Background: Biomarkers of survival and resistance in chemotherapy-resistant muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) are not well-characterized, but may inform management in this setting. Methods: Matched pre- and post-neoadjuvant cisplatin-based chemotherapy (NAC) tumor samples were obtained from 30 MIBC patients with gross residual disease (≥ pT2) at cystectomy, followed by whole exome sequencing of these “trios” (pre- and post-NAC tumor with matched germline samples). Phylogenetic analysis of matched tumor samples was performed to identify subclones, their associated mutations, and the corresponding enrichment in post-treatment tumors. Intratumoral heterogeneity was assessed by the proportion of mutations that were subclonal; the number of inferred subclones; and associated with overall survival using a Cox Proportional Hazards model. Results: Increased proportion of subclonal mutations in post-treatment tumors was associated with worse overall survival (HRR 1.86 [95% CI 1.12-3.06], p = 0.02), whereas pre-treatment proportion of subclonal mutations was only borderline statistically significant (HRR 1.48 [95% CI 0.99-2.20], p = 0.052). The total number of inferred tumor subclones in pre- or post-treatment tumor (or both) was associated with overall survival (HRR 1.60 [95% CI 1.05-2.43], p = 0.03), interpreted as a 60% increase in death rate per additional inferred subclone. While no single gene was statistically significantly enriched for new alterations in the post-chemotherapy resistant samples, we observed new post-treatment amplifications in cell-cycle genes ( E2F3, c-JUN), biallelic events in cell-cycle regulators ( FBXW7), and amplification of immune checkpoint genes ( PDL1/2). Conclusions: These results suggest that intratumoral heterogeneity (particularly post-therapy) predicts survival in a chemotherapy-resistant cohort. Further, alterations in cell cycle regulation may contribute to the mechanism of chemotherapy resistance. Finally, we observe evidence of immune checkpoint gene amplification post-treatment, suggesting that testing immune checkpoint blockade during NAC or, in high risk patients, following NAC may be warranted.

scholarly journals Stromal LAG-3+cells infiltration defines poor prognosis subtype muscle-invasive bladder cancer with immunoevasive contexture

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. e000651 ◽  
Author(s):  
Han Zeng ◽  
Quan Zhou ◽  
Zewei Wang ◽  
Hongyu Zhang ◽  
Zhaopei Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bladder Cancer ◽  
T Cells ◽  
Immune Checkpoint ◽  
Cox Regression ◽  
Mrna Level ◽  
Disease Free Survival ◽  
The Cancer Genome Atlas ◽  
Invasive Bladder Cancer ◽  
Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer ◽  
Muscle Invasive

BackgroundLymphocyte activation gene 3 (LAG-3) is a promising immune checkpoint therapeutic target being evaluated in clinical trials. We assessed the LAG-3+cells distribution, its association with clinical outcomes and immune contexture and its role in the landscape of muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) treatment.Methods141 patients with MIBC from Zhongshan Hospital were included for survival and adjuvant chemotherapy (ACT) benefit analyses. 32 fresh resected samples of MIBC were collected to detect CD8+T cells functional state. The molecular classification analyses were based on 391 patients with MIBC from The Cancer Genome Atlas. Immunohistochemistry and flow cytometry were performed to characterize various immune cells infiltration.ResultsIn Kaplan-Meier analyses and Cox regression models, stromal LAG-3+cells enrichment was consistently associated with inferior overall survival and disease-free survival, and indicated suboptimal responsiveness to ACT. Patents with high stromal LAG-3+cells possessed increased protumor cells, immunosuppressive cytokines and immune checkpoint expression. The phenotypic analyses of CD8+T cells correlated its dysfunctional state with LAG-3+cells. Besides, LAG-3 mRNA level was linked to luminal and basal subtypes of MIBC. LAG-3-high tumors exhibited limited FGFR3 mutation and signaling signature, and displayed activated immunotherapeutic and EGFR-associated pathway.ConclusionsStromal LAG-3+cells abundance indicated an immunoevasive contexture with dysfunctional CD8+T cells, and represented an independent predictor for adverse survival outcome and ACT resistance in MIBC. LAG-3 expression could potentially be a novel biomarker for FGFR3-targeted and EGFR-targeted therapies and immunotherapy. The crucial role of LAG-3+cells in the therapeutic landscape of MIBC needs further validation retrospectively and prospectively.

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