Bladder Cancer

Researchers have recently made progress in understanding a fundamental signaling cascade, the Programmed Death 1 (PD-1) receptor-ligand pathway,1 which holds long-awaited promise in bladder cancer intervention.

In this installment of "Product Preview," also look for information on products in the pipeline for renal cell carcinoma and interstitial cystitis.

A new study reports no statistically significant increase in the risk of bladder cancer among patients treated with the diabetes drug pioglitazone (Actos), despite previous studies suggesting an association.

Urology Times’ “Best of AUA 2015” report provides a guide to the meeting’s take-home messages in 15 therapeutic areas-an information-packed, condensed summary of the top papers and presentations.

New, large-scale studies on active surveillance, IMRT complications, and robotic versus open prostatectomy were among the highlights of this year’s Genitourinary Cancers Symposium.

In this interview, Arie Belldegrun, MD, discusses the benefits of cancer immunotherapy, the importance of a multidisciplinary treatment approach, and what the future holds for this treatment.

Drugs and devices in the pipeline from Actavis, Genomic Health, Lipella Pharmaceuticals, Polaris Group, Innocrin Pharmaceuticals, OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals, Heat Biologics, Repros Therapeutics, and Sophiris Bio.

Olympus has announced the FDA 510(k) clearance of Narrow Band Imaging as enabling effective targeting of biopsies not seen under white light and improved visualization of tumor margins in nonmuscle-invasive bladder cancer.

Blue light cystoscopy with hexaminolevulinate HCl (HAL-BLC) should be considered for initial diagnosis of nonmuscle-invasive bladder cancer, an expert panel of urologists recently concluded.

Survivors of bladder, kidney, and two other forms of cancer who smoked 20 or more cigarettes a day prior to their cancer diagnoses have an up to fivefold higher risk of developing a second smoking-associated cancer compared to survivors of the same cancers who never smoked.

Research on the quality of bladder biopsy and bladder cancer survival point to problems of suboptimal biopsies and incorrect tumor staging, researchers say.

Drugs and devices in the pipeline from Repros Therapeutics, Bavarian Nordic, NxThera, Solace Therapeutics, Generex Biotechnology, Bioniche, OncoCyte, HistoSonics, and Pacific Edge.

Drugs and devices in the pipeline form Clarus Therapeutics, Nymox Pharmaceutical, Bioniche Life Sciences, Repros Therapeutics, BioLight Life Sciences Investments/Micromedic Technologies, Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Takeda Pharmaceutical, H. Lundbeck A/S, Transplant Genomics, Orion, Bayer, and Roche.

In our “Best of AUA” report, Urology Times’ editors and writers present the AUA annual meeting’s take-home messages in 15 therapeutic areas.

Wassim Kassouf, MD, CM, presents the take home messages on bladder cancer from the AUA annual meeting in Orlando, FL.

Jesse D. Sammon, DO, presents the take home messages on outcomes analysis from the AUA annual meeting in Orlando, FL.

K.C. Balaji, MD, presents the take home messages on basic science research from the AUA annual meeting in Orlando, FL.

Continent urinary diversion and postoperative complications were found to be independent predictors of hospital readmission following radical cystectomy in an analysis from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Drugs and devices in the pipeline from MEI Pharma, Bayer HealthCare, Merck, Pfizer, and Minomic International.

Preliminary studies suggest that inhibition of fibroblast growth factor receptors (FGFR) 1, 2, 3, and 4 may be a promising approach for the treatment of bladder cancers and other cancers that harbor FGFR alterations.

Researchers at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, have identified a discrete set of genes that segregate high-grade bladder cancer into two distinct subtypes-basal-like and luminal-each of which appears to have its own molecular characteristics and outcome. The authors also found that the two subtypes share many of the characteristics seen in basal and luminal breast cancer subtypes, a discovery with clinical implications.

A comprehensive molecular characterization of muscle-invasive urothelial bladder carcinoma suggests multiple opportunities for therapeutic intervention.

Researchers from the National Institutes of Health have identified new potential therapeutic targets for muscle-invasive bladder cancer, including important genes and pathways that are disrupted in the disease.

Mayo Clinic researchers have found amplification of HER2, a known driver of some breast cancers, in micropapillary urothelial carcinoma and have shown that the presence of HER2 amplification is associated with particularly aggressive tumors.

Preoperative hypoalbuminemia is a risk factor for complications following radical cystectomy, say researchers from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.