Rare genitourinary cancers have historically been challenging to treat given the scarcity in incidence, inadequacy of data on treatment and lack of general consensus to guide routine therapy. A phase II multicentre trial shows efficacy of nivolumab and ipilimumab in several cohorts of patients with rare genitourinary cancers.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals
Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription
$29.99 / 30 days
cancel any time
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$209.00 per year
only $17.42 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Necchi, A., Pederzoli, F., Bandini, M. & Spiess, P. E. Revolutionizing care for rare genitourinary tumours. Nat. Rev. Urol. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41585-020-00402-8 (2020).
Gandhy, S. U., Madan, R. A. & Aragon-Ching, J. B. The immunotherapy revolution in genitourinary malignancies. Immunotherapy 12, 819–831 (2020).
McGregor, B. A. et al. Results of a multicenter, phase 2 study of nivolumab and ipilimumab for patients with advanced rare genitourinary malignancies. Cancer https://doi.org/10.1002/cncr.33328 (2020).
Apolo, A. B. et al. Phase I study of cabozantinib and nivolumab alone or with ipilimumab for advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma and other genitourinary tumors. J. Clin. Oncol. 38, 3672–3684 (2020).
Aggen, D. H. & Drake, C. G. Biomarkers for immunotherapy in bladder cancer: a moving target. J. Immunother. Cancer 5, 94 (2017).
Ramamurthy, C. et al. Molecular profiling of aggressive variant urothelial carcinoma. J. Clin. Oncol. 37 (Suppl. 7), 378 (2019).
Raj, N. et al. PD-1 blockade in advanced adrenocortical carcinoma. J. Clin. Oncol. 38, 71–80 (2020).
Le Tourneau, C. et al. Avelumab in patients with previously treated metastatic adrenocortical carcinoma: phase 1b results from the JAVELIN solid tumor trial. J. Immunother. Cancer 6, 111 (2018).
Tay, R. Y., Heigener, D., Reck, M. & Califano, R. Immune checkpoint blockade in small cell lung cancer. Lung Cancer 137, 31–37 (2019).
Motzer, R. J., McHenry, M. B. & Chen, A. C. Immune checkpoint blockade in advanced renal-cell carcinoma. N. Engl. J. Med. 379, 92–93 (2018).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
J.B.A.-C. serves in the Speakers’ Bureau for Bristol Myers Squibb and serves on the advisory board of Pfizer, Merck and EMD Serono.
Additional information
Related links
ALLIANCE-led A031702 trial: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03866382
Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG) trial 1609: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02834013
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Aragon-Ching, J.B. The emerging role of checkpoint inhibitors for rare genitourinary cancers. Nat Rev Urol 18, 133–134 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41585-021-00426-8
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41585-021-00426-8
