Bladder cancer preservation: Biomarkers of Response


Dr. Kiltie presented an update on biomarkers in predicting response to trimodality therapy. MRE 11 may is a possible predictive biomarker is it demonstrated a predictive of response to cisplatin in chemo RT. A summary of the markers assessed, she summarized that for chemoradiation: a high CRP is associated with a worse cancer specific survival, eGFR is associated with improved disease specific survival, Her 2 is associated with a reduced complete response after chemotherapy, and Ki67 is associated with a worse overall survival.

Biomarkers of hypoxia are of specific interest to radiation therapy due to the importance of hypoxic stress in sensitizing for radiotherapy, but unfortunately nothing released to date is sensitive or specific enough to predict full response. The most potential for predicting patient response the bladder preservation is the MRE11. This was assessed from specimens from the BCON and BC2001 trials and compared results across three centers. Using automated BOND staining the results were significant. This has potential to being a useful tool in counseling patients for trimodality therapy. 

Presented By Anne Kiltie, BM

Written By: Written by: Michael J Metcalfe, MD. Fellow of Urologic Oncology Urology, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston TX.  

Ashish M. Kamat, MD, MBBS, FACS
President, International Bladder Cancer Network
Chair, Society of Immunotherapy for Cancer (SITC), BCTF
Director of Urologic Oncology Fellowship
Professor of Urology
Attending Surgeon, Division of Surgery
The University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center