Neoadjuvant cisplatin-based combination chemotherapy followed by radical cystectomy with pelvic lymphadenectomy is the current standard therapy for cisplatin-eligible patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC). A phase II trial testing treatment intensification by adding the immune-checkpoint inhibitor nivolumab to chemotherapy has yielded promising complete response rates, which suggests that bladder-preserving treatment could become attainable in selected patients. This trial heralds a new era in demonstrating the feasibility of bladder preservation for selected patients with MIBC.
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S.F.S. has acted as an advisor and/or has received speaker’s fees from Astellas, AstraZeneca, Bayer, BMS, Cepheid, Ferring, Ipsen, Janssen, Lilly, MSD, Olympus, Pfizer, Pierre Fabre, Richard Wolf, Roche, Sanochemia, Sanofi and Urogen, and holds patents for a method of determining prognosis after therapy for prostate cancer, methods of determining prognosis after therapy for bladder cancer, prognostic methods for patients with prostatic disease, and soluble Fas urinary marker for the detection of bladder transitional cell carcinoma (WO2004027432A3, WO2004027432A2, WO02099114A3, WO02099114A2 and WO02068960A1). The other authors declare no competing interests.
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Klemm, J., Laukhtina, E. & Shariat, S.F. Combination neoadjuvant therapies are paving the way for bladder preservation to become the standard for selected patients. Nat Rev Clin Oncol 21, 87–88 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41571-023-00841-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41571-023-00841-3
