Immune checkpoint inhibitors for bladder cancer treatment

V.A. Solodkiy, A.Yu. Pavlov, A.G. Dzidzariya, R.A. Gafanov, R.A. Uzdenov

Russian Scientific Center of Roentgenology and Radiology, Moscow, Russian Federation

Urothelial carcinoma (also known as transitional cell carcinoma) is the most common his-tological type of malignant tumors of the upper and lower urinary tract. Platinum-based chemo-therapy is currently the standard treatment for metastatic bladder cancer and the preferred peri-operative (neoadjuvant and/or adjuvant) treatment for muscle invasive bladder cancer. In addi-tion, intravesical immunotherapy (BCG vaccine) is also used for non-muscle invasive bladder cancer as adjuvant therapy after transurethral resection to prevent disease progression and recur-rences. In recent years, systemic immunotherapy has been increasingly used to inhibit immune checkpoints. Programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) and PD-1 ligand (PD-L1) are important negative regulators of immune activity which prevent the destruction of healthy tissues and auto-immunity. Currently, five inhibitors of immune checkpoints blocking PD-1 (i.e., pembrolizumab, nivolumab) or PD-L1 (i.e., atesolizumab, dyurva lumab and avelumab) are approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for the first- and second-line treatment in metastatic bladder can-cer. This paper reviews clinical studies on immune checkpoint inhibitors for localized and meta-static bladder cancer therapy.

Keywords: urothelial cancer, immunotherapy, immune checkpoint inhibitors, PD-1, nivolumab, pembrolizumab, PD-L1, durvalumab, avelumab.

For citation: Solodkiy V.A., Pavlov A.Yu., Dzidzariya A.G. et al. Immune checkpoint inhibitors for bladder cancer treatment. Russian Medical Review. 2020;4(2):111–117. DOI: 10.32364/2587-6821-2020-4-2-111-117.