Bladder cancer: innovative approaches beyond the diagnosis.

ABSTRACT

Bladder carcinoma (BC) is the most common urinary malignant tumor. In the light of the unsuccessful current therapies and their side effects, new pharmacological strategies are needed. In addition to the well known therapeutic possibilities described in the first section, we focused our attention on very recent and innovative tools to approach this target (new drug candidates from epigenetic modulators to endothelin receptor inhibitors, improved technological formulations, active principles from plants, and dietary components). Then, in the last paragraph, we analyzed the etiology of recurrent BC, with particular attention to cellular microenvironment. In fact, the incidence of recurrence is up to 90%, and 25% of tumours show progression towards invasiveness.