Neoadjuvant and palliative drug therapy for bladder cancer

The survival of patients with muscle-invasive localized bladder cancer is more favorable if they receive neoadjuvant or adjuvant cisplatin-based chemotherapy before or after cystectomy. Based on the meta-analyses, in case of neoadjuvant cisplatin-based chemotherapy, the 5-year survival benefit is 5-16%. The outcome is even more favorable in case of patients who respond well to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (pathological complete remission rate 12–50%). More than 3 months delay of cystectomy does not significantly reduce the survival if chemotherapy is performed before the operation. Results of adjuvant phase III studies and meta-analyses are not so unambiguous as neoadjuvant data, but chemotherapy seems to influence favorably PD-L1 expression the survival, especially in case of pT3/4 and/or N+ (and high grade or margin positivity) cases. According to the recent publications, outcome data of patients have been effective in case of progression after platinum therapy, in or after second-line and in first-line therapies for cisplatin ineligible, PD-L1 positive patients, respectively. Survival and tumor response data are very promising; in particular stages, they seem to be more effective than the previously administered chemotherapies. Current and ongoing trials are investigating the combinations of new remedies with other immunotherapeutic agents or chemotherapies as well as trying to identify biomarkers in order to further increase effectiveness.