Unmet needs in urothelial cancer management represent an important challenge in our effort to improve long-term overall and disease-free survival rates with no significant compromise in quality of life.
Radical cystectomy with pelvic lymph node dissection is the standard for the management of muscle-invasive, non-metastatic cancers. In spite of a 90% local disease control, up to 50% of patients ultimately die of distant metastasis. Bladder preservation using chemo-radiation is an acceptable alternative, but optimal patient selection remains elusive. Recent research is focused on the employment of tailored-made strategies in urothelial cancer exploiting the potential of theranostics in patient selection for specific therapies. Herein, we review the current knowledge on molecular theranostics in urothelial cancer and we suggest that this is the time to move toward imaging theranostics, if tailored-made disease management and patient stratification is envisaged.
EBioMedicine. 2018 Feb 02 [Epub ahead of print]
Theodora Katsila, Michalis Liontos, George P Patrinos, Aristotelis Bamias, Dimitrios Kardamakis
Department of Pharmacy, School of Health Sciences, University of Patras, Patras, Greece; Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Patras Medical School, Patras, Greece. Electronic address: ., Department of Clinical Therapeutics, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece., Department of Pharmacy, School of Health Sciences, University of Patras, Patras, Greece; Department of Pathology, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates., Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Patras Medical School, Patras, Greece.
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