Thomas Powles, MBBS, MRCP, MD, from the Barts Cancer Institute, London, UK, gives an overview of the use of checkpoint inhibitors in metastatic urothelial bladder cancer at the European Association of Urology (EAU) conference 2017 in London, UK. He explains that the differences seen clinically with immune checkpoint inhibitor treatment, and speaks about recent clinical trial results. According to Prof. Powles, one of the next key questions which needs to be addressed is whether frontline randomized Phase III studies show improved outcomes with immunotherapy compared to chemotherapy in bladder cancer. Whether biomarkers will be important for this also needs to be further investigated. Prof. Powles concludes that looking forward, it is conceivable that immunotherapy may not replace chemotherapy, but may be used in combination.
What’s next for checkpoint inhibitors in metastatic urothelial bladder cancer?
