Novel Therapeutics in the Treatment of Bladder Cancer

Purpose Of Review: The successful treatment of bladder cancer remains a challenge for urologists and oncologists. There have been substantial changes in the therapeutic options for the management of both superficial and muscle-invasive bladder cancer in the last 5 years. Here we review the preclinical and clinical developments over the last year in bladder cancer therapeutics.

Recent Findings: There is a growing trend toward the use of multimodal treatments for all bladder cancers. For superficial disease, intravesical instillation of chemotherapeutic agents after transurethral resection is quickly becoming the standard of care. Novel therapeutic modalities under investigation include DNA vaccines, magnetically targeted carriers, bio-adhesive microspheres and antisense oligodeoxynucleotides. For muscle-invasive bladder cancer, systemic perioperative chemotherapy is being used with increasing frequency and the latest preclinical research efforts are focused on the inhibition of angiogenesis and other processes predisposing to metastatic disease.

Summary: Treatment goals for bladder cancer of any stage are complete removal of the initial tumor, prevention of disease recurrence and effective inhibition of progression to advanced disease with the ultimate aim of reducing mortality. The myriad novel therapeutic modalities currently being explored suggest that these goals may perhaps be achievable within our lifetime.