Clinical trials exploring immunotherapy in bladder cancer
David M. Nanus, M.D., spoke to OncLive about ongoing clinical trials exploring immunotherapy agents for the treatment of patients with bladder cancer.
Currently, there is a trial randomizing patients to receive chemotherapy, a PD-1 inhibitor, or a PD-1 agent plus a CTLA-4 inhibitor, Nanus explains.
Prior data in melanoma suggest that PD-1 plus CTLA-4 regimens have significant activity; therefore, it is hoped that a similar effect will occur in patients with bladder cancer. Another interesting area in this field is determining if immunotherapy has a greater benefit in the neoadjuvant or adjuvant setting.
Additionally, Nanus questions whether immunotherapy could have a role in patients with superficial bladder cancer. More research is needed to determine what other indications these types of agents could have activity in, he adds.