Editor's Pick: Advances and Perspectives in Urinary Bladder Cancer Nanotherapy

Abstract

Bladder cancer treatment remains a challenge in the pharmaceutical field due to the recurrence and progression of the disease, as well as the pronounced side effects associated with the available therapeutic modalities. Although important strategies have been investigated in different clinical trial phases, efficient and well-tolerated treatment approaches need to be developed to improve therapeutic efficacy and the quality of life for bladder cancer patients. This review discusses conventional protocols used in the clinical setting, detailing the use of Bacillus Calmette–Guérin, new immunomodulators, and drug delivery systems. New therapeutic approaches have been investigated with the aim of better therapeutic efficacy with low rates of recurrence and progression of non-muscle invasive bladder cancer and muscle invasive bladder cancer. Therefore, this review highlights the progression of therapy with the use of conventional treatments and the recent progress achieved from the use of innovative strategies, such as nanoparticles for sustained, controlled drug delivery and increased drug uptake by tumour cells.

Keywords

• Bladder cancer
• drug delivery
• immunotherapy
• nanobiotechnology
• nanomedicine