Genomic Testing

"[This] shows a different approach for detecting circulating tumor DNA in bladder cancer patients, and it opens up the possibility for other biorepositories that have serum samples to also enter the ctDNA research environment," says Richard T. Bryan, MBChB, PhD, MRCS, FacadTM.

"This preplanned ENACT trial biomarker analysis demonstrates the value of the Decipher score, AR-A score, and PAM50 genomic classifiers in identifying patients undergoing AS who are most likely to benefit from enzalutamide treatment," wrote the authors.

The MPS2 models demonstrated negative predictive values of 95% to 99% for cancers of grade group 2 or higher and of 99% for cancers of grade group 3 or higher.

"As a kidney cancer community, we need to investigate these molecular subtypes prospectively in clinical trials to determine whether specific subtypes benefit from certain therapies or not," says David A. Braun, MD, PhD.

The study is exploring the small activating RNA therapy RAG-01 in patients with BCG-unresponsive non–muscle-invasive bladder cancer.

“Systemic therapy for RCC has changed very quickly. Every year, it's exciting to see that we're getting new developments, new drug approvals, and changes in the standard of care,” says Wenxin (Vincent) Xu, MD.

Rohan Garje, MD, discusses recent research linking TP53, RB1, and PTEN mutations with worse overall survival outcomes in prostate cancer.

“The MODERN trial represents a step towards precision medicine in bladder cancer treatment," says Matthew D. Galsky, MD.

The novel agent ABSK061 approached a response rate of 40% in patients with advanced solid tumors harboring FGFR2/3 alterations.

The AssureMDx test demonstrated an area under the curve of 0.80 in detecting urinary tract recurrences in MIBC.

"Our studies consistently demonstrated that data from the Decipher Prostate Genomic Classifier was more reliably predictive of prostate cancer progression and underlying pathology than any other clinical data available, including MRI," says Eric Kim, MD.

Correlation found between the biomarker HSD3B1 and resistance to combined hormone therapy and radiotherapy

“Our analysis suggests that there is superior clinical benefit with olaparib versus control both in patients who had and had not received previous taxane treatment,” said Maha Hussain, MD, Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University.

"In these studies, we were pleased to find that disitamab vedotin has consistent efficacy and manageable safety in patients with chemotherapy-refractory mUC," says Jun Guo, MD.

A recently published study found an association between PARP inhibitor treatment and an increased risk of hematological adverse events, including anemia, thrombocytopenia, and neutropenia, in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.

On an episode of Cleveland Clinic’s Cancer Advances podcast, host Dale Shepard, MD, PhD, talks with Omar Mian, MD, PhD, about emerging molecular biomarkers for genitourinary cancers.

According to the survey, 79% of Black men know that genetic information can help improve prostate cancer outcomes, yet 33% indicated that they would be unwilling or uncertain to provide DNA samples, even if it meant finding new treatment options.

Circulating tumor DNA is showing promise as a tool to guide decisions on treatment intensification and de-escalation in patients with renal cell carcinoma.

Translocation renal cell carcinoma is a rare type of RCC that is typically characterized by gene fusions involving the MiT family of transcription factors including TFE3, TFEB, TFEC, and MiTF.

Notably, the study represents a 57% increase in the number of non-European participants compared with previous prostate cancer genome-wide association studies.

"All of our tools, including genomics and MRI, enable us to do a better job of risk stratifying [patients] to have a more appropriate shared decision-making discussion [about active surveillance]," explains David Morris, MD.

In a recent interview, Rohan Garje, MD, chief of genitourinary oncology at the Miami Cancer Institute, discussed the evolving paradigm with PARP inhibitors in prostate cancer.

The model may help identify patients with urothelial carcinoma who could benefit from PPARG inhibition through FX-909, a first-in-class small molecule inhibitor of PPARG.

“Our results provide molecular insights for potential therapeutic strategies to treat prostate cancer and other AR-involved diseases by targeting AR multivalent interactions,” said Zhijie “Jason” Liu, PhD.

"These tests, germline and tumor somatic testing, are extremely important and can no longer be ignored in the clinic when we see these patients," says Neeraj Agarwal, MD.

Alexandra Sokolova, MD, explains the importance of genetic testing for patients with high-risk localized and advanced prostate cancer, as well as for their high-risk family members.

The Invitae Common Hereditary Cancers Panel utilizes DNA taken from a blood sample to identify the presence of variants in 47 genes linked to an increased risk of developing certain cancers.

In patients with microhematuria, a positive result on the test was associated with a 5-fold increase in the risk of patients harboring bladder cancer compared with current metrics alone.

When compared with standard risk factors, only Decipher Prostate Genomic Classifier scores were independently associated with metastasis-free survival and distant metastasis.

This is the largest prostate cancer study that examined the exome, according to the researchers, who believe their findings can potentially inform the makeup of panels used for genetic testing in prostate cancer.