2. UroToday Home
  3. Center Of Excellence

Centers of Excellence

The Latest Research on Advanced Bladder Cancer

Curated by clinicians: educational forums with videos, abstracts and conference information

From the Desk of the Editor

Petros Grivas | June 16, 2019

Bladder cancer is common and challenging to treat. A thorough assessment of the molecular biology and immunology background has pinpointed potential biomarkers, “drivers” and promising therapeutic targets. The advent of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) has heralded a new era after approximately two decades of a “stagnant landscape”.  As single agents in patients with advanced urothelial carcinoma, ICI can induce rapid and durable responses, with a very small proportion of patients achieving long term remission. However, most patients do not achieve response, while a proportion may have immune-related adverse events. Therefore, there is an urgent need for additional therapies that raise the bar, improve quality of life, and prolong the life of our patients.

READ MORE PREVIOUS ARTICLES

Petros Grivas, MD

Petros Grivas, MD, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor and the Clinical Director of the Genitourinary Cancers Program at the University of Washington, and an Associate Member of the Clinical Research Division at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center with expertise in genitourinary cancers such as bladder cancer, prostate cancer, and testis cancer.
Dr. Grivas is dedicated to efficient, personalized and outstanding patient care. He believes in an optimal patient-physician relationship and community outreach. Dr. Petros Grivas was recruited from the Cleveland Clinic where he was leading the bladder/urothelial cancer program and was seeing numerous patients with bladder/urothelial cancer, prostate cancer and testis cancer. Prior to Cleveland Clinic, Dr. Grivas was seeing patients with similar diseases at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He played an important role in clinical trials that led to the FDA approval of new drugs for bladder/urothelial cancer, and he is considered a thought leader and international expert, giving lectures in several countries, educating other oncologists and trainees, leading clinical trials and publishing novel and important research.

Videos
View All
State-of-the-industry video lectures by leading urology experts
Everyday Urology - Oncology Insights
Publications focusing on urologic cancer treatments through original manuscripts
By Noah Hahn, MD
This is an extraordinary time in urology. After decades of relative stagnation, patients with urothelial carcinoma are receiving approved immuno-oncologic drugs that significantly extend survival and are safer and more tolerable than chemotherapy.  The success of these treatments in metastatic bladder cancer has generated strong interest and promising early results for their use in localized disease.
Download PDF
By Neal Shore, MD, FACS
Initial Considerations
From BCG to interferon gene therapy, physicians have treated bladder cancer with immunotherapy for decades. Treatment particulars generally depend on whether bladder cancer is non-muscle invasive, muscle-invasive, or metastatic. About 75% of patients have non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC),1 which is considered high-risk if it consists of non-invasive papillary carcinoma (TaHG),
Download PDF
Library Resources
Evidence based monographs by experts to define and guide clinical practice
Written by Janet Baack Kukreja, MD, MPH and Ashish Kamat, MD, MBBS
Bladder cancer was one of the top five leading causes of cancer death in 2015.1 Most of these cases are of urothelial histologic origin. For about 35% of patients, bladder cancer is either muscle-invasive or metastatic at disease presentation.
BALVERSA is a kinase inhibitor indicated for the treatment of adult patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma that has 

  • susceptible FGFR3 or FGFR2 genetic alterations and
  • progressed during or following at least one line of prior platinum-containing chemotherapy including within 12 months of neoadjuvant 
Expert Commentary
Evidence based monographs by experts to define and guide clinical practice
Written by Bishoy M. Faltas, MD
Englander Institute for Precision Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine
The optimal treatment for cisplatin-ineligible patients with metastatic urothelial cancer is unknown.
Written by Bishoy M. Faltas, MD
Englander Institute for Precision Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine
Patients who achieved a pathologic complete response (pCR) after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) have a better prognosis compared to patients with pathologic residual disease (pRD).
Written by Bishoy M. Faltas, MD
Englander Institute for Precision Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine
The optimal treatment for patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma (mUC) patients who are unfit to receive the standard cisplatin-based chemotherapy is uncertain.
Written by Bishoy M. Faltas, MD
Englander Institute for Precision Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine
FGFR3 mutations are common in urothelial carcinoma. The APOBEC mutational process is the dominant mutational mechanism in bladder cancer.
Written by Bishoy M. Faltas, MD
Englander Institute for Precision Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine
A shortage of the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) Connaught strain occurred between 2013-2016. 
Written by Bishoy M. Faltas, MD
Englander Institute for Precision Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine
Perioperative chemotherapy is frequently underutilized. Understanding the trends in the utilization of neoadjuvant or adjuvant cisplatin-based chemotherapy in muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) undergoing cystectomy is critical.
Written by Bishoy M. Faltas, MD
Englander Institute for Precision Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine
Neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by radical cystectomy (RC) with lymph node dissection is the standard of care in patients with muscle-invasive urothelial bladder carcinoma (MIBC).
Written by Bishoy M. Faltas, MD
Englander Institute for Precision Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine
Immune checkpoints inhibitors (ICIs) are approved as a second line of treatment for metastatic urothelial carcinoma (mUC) patients with progression on cisplatin-based chemotherapy.
Written by Bishoy M. Faltas, MD
Englander Institute for Precision Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine
Patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer  (MIBC) who are treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) before cystectomy have a survival advantage.
Written by Bishoy M. Faltas, MD
Englander Institute for Precision Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine
Downstaging of muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) following neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) before radical cystectomy (RC) has been correlated with higher survival rates.  
Written by Bishoy M. Faltas, MD
Englander Institute for Precision Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine
Platinum-resistant urothelial carcinoma is a lethal disease. After a long period of therapeutic stagnation, the last two years have witnessed an explosion in the development of new second-line therapies.
Written by Bishoy M. Faltas, MD
Englander Institute for Precision Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine
Neoadjuvant chemotherapy is a standard of care for patients with urothelial muscle-invasive bladder cancer.
Written by Bishoy M. Faltas, MD
Englander Institute for Precision Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine
Methotrexate-vinblastine-doxorubicin-cisplatin (MVAC) neoadjuvant chemotherapy is a standard of care for muscle-invasive urothelial bladder cancer.
Written by Bishoy M. Faltas, MD
Englander Institute for Precision Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine
Neoadjuvant chemotherapy is a standard of care for muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC).
Conference Coverage
Recent data from conferences worldwide
Presented by Enrique Grande, MD
Barcelona, Spain (UroToday.com) First-line metastatic urothelial carcinoma treatment includes cisplatin or carboplatin-based chemotherapy or checkpoint inhibitors, depending on patient eligibility and PD-L1 status.
Presented by Scott T. Tagawa, MD, MS
Barcelona, Spain (UroToday.com) Platinum-based chemotherapy has been the standard first-line therapy for patients with metastatic urothelial cancer (mUC). Historically, response to standard of care second-line chemotherapy regimens is < 15%.
Presented by Christopher J. Hoimes, DO
Barcelona, Spain (UroToday.com) Platinum-based chemotherapy remains the standard of care for patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma. Despite the use of first-line PD-1/PD-1L inhibitors, 71–76% of patients who are cisplatin-ineligible do not respond to treatment.
Presented by Daniel Peter Petrylak, MD
Chicago, IL (UroToday.com) After cisplatin-based chemotherapy and immune checkpoint inhibitors, there exist a paucity of effective therapies for patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma (mUC). Enfortumab vedotin (EV) is an antibody-drug 
Presented by Arlene O. Siefker-Radtke, MD
Chicago, IL (UroToday.com) FGF receptor 3 (FGFR3) alterations are frequently encountered in urothelial carcinoma, both in non-muscle invasive and muscle-invasive disease.1 For patients with muscle-invasive disease, FGFR3 mutations have been observed in 2% of primary tumors and 9% of metastases.2
Presented by Bradley Alexander McGregor, MD
Chicago, IL (UroToday.com) Combination ipilimumab/nivolumab (ipi/nivo) has seen success in melanoma, MSI high colorectal cancer, and renal cell carcinoma (RCC).1 In urothelial carcinoma, CheckMate 032 evaluated the efficacy of ipi/nivo in an open-label, multicenter, phase I/II
Presented by Xinan Sheng, MD
Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) have made significant progress in several tumor types over the past few years, including brentuximab vedotin for Hodgkin lymphoma, TDM1 for breast cancer, and inotuzumab ozogamicin for non-Hodgkin lymphoma.1 Linking a targeted monoclonal 

Links

 
E-Newsletters

Newsletter subscription

Free Daily and Weekly newsletters offered by content of interest

The fields of GU Oncology and Urology are rapidly advancing. Sign up today for articles, videos, conference highlights and abstracts from peer-review publications by disease and condition delivered to your inbox and read on the go.

Subscribe