title: Advances in urothelial bladder cancer immunotherapy, dawn of a new age of treatment.
abstract: Urothelial bladder cancer displays a high number of somatic mutations that render these tumors more responsive to immunotherapy. Several immunotherapeutic agents were examined in patients with advanced stage urothelial bladder cancer and recently atezolizumab - an (PDL-1) immune checkpoint inhibitor antibody - was approved for the treatment of patients with metastatic disease progressing after platinum combination therapy. Despite the great success, there are still some unanswered questions and ongoing trials that are in progress to define the role of combination therapy and sequencing strategies. The objective of our manuscript is to summarize the most recent data on immunotherapy in advanced urothelial cancer. Current challenges and future perspectives of immunotherapy as a monotherapy or in combination strategies will also be analyzed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Hotel Dieu de France, Saint Joseph University, Beirut, Lebanon.|Department of Urology, Jules Bordet Institute, 1 Rue Héger Bordet, 1000 Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Fouad
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Aoun
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Hotel Dieu de France, Saint Joseph University, Beirut, Lebanon.
authors.forename: Elie El
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Rassy
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Gustave Roussy Institute, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Tarek
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Assi
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Jules Bordet Institute, 1 Rue Héger Bordet, 1000 Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Simone
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Albisinni
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Hotel Dieu de France, Saint Joseph University, Beirut, Lebanon.
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Katan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D061067:Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized; D019008:Drug Resistance, Neoplasm; D006801:Humans; D007167:Immunotherapy / Q000639:trends*; D058990:Molecular Targeted Therapy; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D001749:Urinary Bladder Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D019459:Urothelium / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D061067:Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized; C000594389:atezolizumab
keywords: PD-1 inhibitors; PDL-1 inhibitors; bladder cancer; clinical trials; immunotherapy