Changes in the treatment landscape for metastatic urothelial cancer: current therapy and future directions

Abstract

Despite the development of several new drugs, cisplatin-containing chemotherapy remains the standard frontline option for advanced urothelial carcinoma (UC). Since the cisplatin-based regimen became the standard therapy for metastatic UC, there have been few advances in chemotherapy, until recently. A better understanding of molecular pathobiology of UC and advances in cancer immunology have led to a sharp increase in clinical trials for metastatic UC with the rapidly changing systemic treatment for this disease. This review summarizes current chemotherapy and immunotherapy for metastatic UC, as well as novel agents and ongoing trials.

Keywords

• urothelial carcinoma
• cytotoxic chemotherapy
• immunotherapy
• targeted agent
• antibody-drug conjugate
• biomarker