The Role of c-MET as a Biomarker in Patients with Bladder Cancer Treated with Radical Chemo-Radiotherapy.

BACKGROUND: Bladder cancer is a highly aggressive cancer, and muscle invasive urothelial carcinoma (MIUC) requires aggressive strategy. Concomitant chemo-radiotherapy (CRT) appears as a therapeutic option that allows bladder sparing. No biomarker is currently available to optimally select patients for CRT. METHODS: We retrospectively enrolled patients with MIUC who were treated in a curative setting with CRT. Based on c-MET expression in pre-treatment tumor tissue, patients were stratified into two groups: no expression of c-MET (group A) and expression of c-MET (group B). We evaluated the outcome of these patients based on c-MET expression. RESULTS: After a median follow-up of 40 months, 13 patients were enrolled in this analysis, 8 in group A and 5 in group B. The disease recurrence was 25% in group A and 100% in group B. Compared to group A, patients from group B experienced more frequent and more rapid recurrence in terms of metastases; the 3-year metastatic recurrence rate was 13% and 100%, respectively. The c-MET expression was also associated with a higher rate of cancer-related deaths. CONCLUSIONS: In this retrospective analysis, c-MET expression was associated with worse disease-free survival and survival in patients treated radically with CRT.

Improving the role of immune checkpoint inhibitors in the management of advanced urothelial carcinoma, where do we stand?

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have significantly improved the outcome of patients with metastatic urothelial cancer (mUC). If these agents were first used in monotherapy after failure of platinum-based chemotherapy, new strategies have been evaluated in the last years, including association of ICIs, ICI plus chemotherapy association or maintenance therapy. This maintenance concept allows a better management of mUC, which is particularly interesting in cisplatin-ineligible patients. This paper aims to review the current knowledge of ICIs in urothelial carcinoma as well as the new indications of these agents in mUC.

The Evolution of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors in Advanced Urothelial Carcinoma.

Urothelial carcinoma is an aggressive cancer and development of metastases remains a challenge for clinicians. Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) are significantly improving the outcomes of patients with metastatic urothelial cancer (mUC). These agents were first used in monotherapy after failure of platinum-based chemotherapy, but different strategies explored the optimal use of ICIs in a first-line metastatic setting. The "maintenance" strategy consists of the introduction of ICIs in patients who experienced benefit from first-line chemotherapy in a metastatic setting. This allows an earlier use of ICIs, without waiting for disease progression. We review the optimal management of mUC in the era of ICIs, based on the key clinical messages arising from the pivotal trials.

Radium-223 as an Additional Therapeutic Strategy in Highly Selected Patients With Metastatic Breast Cancer: A Case Report.

Radium-223 is commonly used in metastatic prostate cancer, targeting specifically bone metastases. The use of radium-223 remains, however, poorly evaluated in metastatic breast cancer. We report a case of radium-223 treatment in a 59-year-old patient with bone-only metastatic disease that progressed on multiple lines of systemic treatments. Radium-223 was very well tolerated and resulted in a regression of activity of bone metastases and in a 6-month progression-free survival. However, progression occurred in the liver, reflecting the fact that radium-223 should be combined with other systemic agents. This suggests that this therapeutic option is feasible and could be proposed in highly selected patients with bone metastatic disease outside of the prostate cancer field. Positron Emission Tomography appears also as a valuable tool for the evaluation of radium-223 efficacy.