The standard of care for most patients with non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) is immunotherapy with intravesical Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG), which activates the immune system to recognize and destroy malignant cells and has demonstrated durable clinical benefit. Urologic best-practice guidelines and consensus reports have been developed and strengthened based on data on the timing, dose, and duration of therapy from randomized clinical trials, as well as by critical evaluation of criteria for progression. However, these reports have not penetrated the community, and many patients do not receive appropriate therapy. Additionally, several immune checkpoint inhibitors have recently been approved for treatment of metastatic disease. The approval of immune checkpoint blockade for patients with platinum-resistant or -ineligible metastatic bladder cancer has led to considerations of expanded use for both advanced and, potentially, localized disease. To address these issues and others surrounding the appropriate use of immunotherapy for the treatment of bladder cancer, the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) convened a Task Force of experts, including physicians, patient advocates, and nurses, to address issues related to patient selection, toxicity management, clinical endpoints, as well as the combination and sequencing of therapies. Following the standard approach established by the Society for other cancers, a systematic literature review and analysis of data, combined with consensus voting was used to generate guidelines. Here, we provide a consensus statement for the use of immunotherapy in patients with bladder cancer, with plans to update these recommendations as the field progresses.
Journal for immunotherapy of cancer. 2017 Aug 15*** epublish ***
Ashish M Kamat, Joaquim Bellmunt, Matthew D Galsky, Badrinath R Konety, Donald L Lamm, David Langham, Cheryl T Lee, Matthew I Milowsky, Michael A O'Donnell, Peter H O'Donnell, Daniel P Petrylak, Padmanee Sharma, Eila C Skinner, Guru Sonpavde, John A Taylor, Prasanth Abraham, Jonathan E Rosenberg
University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 1515 Pressler Unit 1373, Houston, TX, 77030, USA. ., Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Brookline, MA, 02446, USA., Tisch Cancer Institute at Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York, NY, 10029, USA., University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA., BCG Oncology, Phoenix, AZ, 85032, USA., Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network, North Carolina Triangle Chapter, Chapel Hill, NC, 27517, USA., The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA., University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA., University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, 52242, USA., University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA., Yale Cancer Center, New Haven, CT, 06520, USA., University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 77030, USA., Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA., University of Alabama, Birmingham, AL, 35294, USA., University of Kansas Cancer Center, Kansas City, KS, 66160, USA., Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, 10065, USA.