<p>Durvalumab for the management of urothelial carcinoma: a short review on the emerging data and therapeutic potential</p>

Abstract

Urothelial carcinoma (UC) is the second most frequent urogenital malignancy with high incidence in the United States and Europe. Despite poor prognosis, new treatments have emerged with great efficacy and safety such as immune checkpoint inhibitors. Durvalumab, an anti Programmed Death Ligand 1, has been given breakthrough in UC in 2017 in patients who have disease progression during or following platinum-containing chemotherapy or who have disease progression ,12 months after neoadjuvant or adjuvant treatment with platinumcontaining chemotherapy. Food and Drug Administration approval was given on the results of the Phase I/II study of MEDI 4736. In this article, we will review available data on durvalumab in the treatment of locally advanced and metastatic UC and discuss therapeutic potential.

Immunotherapy in Testicular Germ Cell Tumors

“…Several immune checkpoint inhibitors have already been assessed in various types of cancers, including advanced urothelial cancer, metastatic renal cell carcinoma, and genitourinary cancers (8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13).…”

Inflammatory Biomarkers for Outcome Prediction in Patients With Metastatic Testicular Cancer

“…Many tumor cells express PD-L1 and PD-L2 with the inhibition of cytotoxic cells (91). In several cases, including advanced urothelial and genitourinary cancers, PD-L1 has become the strongest biomarker to predict the response to checkpoint inhibitors, a class of immunotherapy that blocks inhibitory signals mainly through the inhibition of the binding between PD-1 and PD-L1 or PD-L2 (92)(93)(94)(95)(96)(97). In different studies, PD-L1 expression has been evaluated by immunohistochemistry (IHC) or IHC-based combined positive score (CPS) which is obtained as follows: CPS = 100 × PD-L1 stained cells (tumor cells, lymphocytes, macrophages)/total viable tumor cells.…”

<p>Optimal Management of Upper Tract Urothelial Carcinoma: Current Perspectives</p>

“…90,91 Approved immunotherapeutic agents for urothelial carcinomas include the following 5 checkpoint inhibitors: pembrolizumab, nivolumab, atezolizumab, durvalumab, and avelumab. 92 Table 2 outlines these 5 US FDA-approved PD1/PDL1 drugs for urothelial carcinoma, their mechanisms of actions, dose, and frequency. Most of the patients included in these trials had urothelial carcinomas of bladder.…”