Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors as a Real Hope in Advanced Urothelial Carcinoma
(2018) Future Science OA — Vol. 4, n° 10 (2018)
Files
Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors as a Real Hope in Advanced Urothelial Carcinoma.pdf
Open Access - Adobe PDF
- 1.17 MB
Details
- Authors
- Abstract
- Metastatic urothelial cancer is an aggressive disease associated with a poor prognosis. In the first-line setting, platinum-based chemotherapy is the standard of care but resistance rapidly occurs. After failure of platinum-based therapy and in cisplatin-ineligible patients, therapeutic options are limited. Malignant cells evolve mechanisms to evade immune recognition, including the expression of cell-surface molecules, named immune checkpoints, on tumor and tumor-specific lymphocytes. Immunotherapy, by targeting these checkpoints, represents a new tool to improve the patient outcome in advanced urothelial carcinoma (UC). Recently, the US FDA approved, in a short time, several immune checkpoint inhibitors in metastatic UC, both after failure of platinum-based therapy and in first-line setting in cisplatin-ineligible patients. This article aims to review the place of immunotherapy in advanced UC. Lay summary Urothelial carcinoma is an aggressive disease and therapeutic options are limited in patients with advanced stage who are refractory to chemotherapy. Immunotherapy represents a milestone for these patients; different immune checkpoint inhibitors have shown significant activity in advanced urothelial carcinoma and are currently available both in the second-line metastatic setting (after failure of platinum-based therapy) and in the first-line setting in cisplatin-ineligible patients. Furthermore, these agents are better tolerated than chemotherapy. PD-L1 expression is not an ideal biomarker and further research is evaluating innovative methods to facilitate selection of patients who are most likely to benefit from these agents.
- Affiliations
Hopital de Jolimont, 7100 Haine Saint Paul, Belgium Department of Medical Oncology Hopital de Jolimont, 7100 Haine Saint Paul, Belgium Department of Urology
Citations
Seront, E., Catala, G., Dermine, A., Lejeune, S., & Rysselinck, S. (2018). Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors as a Real Hope in Advanced Urothelial Carcinoma. Future Science OA, 4(10). https://doi.org/10.4155/fsoa-2018-0033 (Original work published 2018)