Tackling non-muscle invasive bladder cancer in the clinic

Advances in diagnosis and treatment of bladder cancer

Bladder cancer remains a leading cause of cancer death worldwide and is associated with substantial impacts on patient quality of life, morbidity, mortality, and cost to the healthcare system. Gross hematuria frequently precedes the diagnosis of bladder cancer. Non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) is managed initially with transurethral resection of a bladder tumor (TURBT), followed by a risk stratified approach to adjuvant intravesical therapy (IVe), and is associated with an overall survival of 90%. However, cure rates remain lower for muscle invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) owing to a variety of factors. NMIBC and MIBC groupings are heterogeneous and have unique pathological and molecular characteristics. Indeed, The Cancer Genome Atlas project identified genetic drivers and luminal and basal molecular subtypes of MIBC with distinct treatment responses. For NMIBC, IVe immunotherapy (primarily BCG) is the gold standard treatment for high grade and high risk NMIBC to reduce or prevent both recurrence and progression after initial TURBT; novel trials incorporate immune checkpoint inhibitors. IVe gene therapy and combination IVe chemotherapy have recently been completed, with promising results. For localized MIBC, essential goals are improving care and reducing morbidity following cystectomy or bladder preserving strategies. In metastatic disease, advances in understanding of the genomic landscape and tumor microenvironment have led to the implementation of immune checkpoint inhibitors, targeted treatments, and antibody-drug conjugates. Defining better selection criteria to identify the patients most likely to benefit from a specific treatment is an urgent need.

'I Had It. I Don't Think I Have It…But I Do Feel It Will Come Back Somewhere': A Qualitative Investigation of the Experience of People With Non-Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer

Very little is known about the impact of living with non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). NMIBC patients' experiences of their illness-in terms of their perceptions, coping strategies and psychological wellbeing-were explored. This study describes an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) of individuals' accounts of living with NMIBC while on routine surveillance for cancer recurrence. Ten individuals took part in face-to-face semi-structured interviews. Three superordinate themes were derived from the data. The first theme, Being Diagnosed and Treated for NMIBC, concerned the observation that participants considered the physical implications, timeline and practicalities of their illness of primary importance and focused less on its psychological aspects. The second theme, Grappling with the Illness, outlined the impact of the doctor-patient relationship. The final theme, 'I don't treat it as a problem. I treat it as an issue', delineated how participants managed difficult emotions in the context of the illness. Findings from this study demonstrated that participants generally found effective ways to cope with their illness and experience of ongoing surveillance, though delay of emotional responses was common. Clinical implications for healthcare professionals are outlined including the importance of high-quality communication with the urology team.

PKM2 Is Essential for Bladder Cancer Growth and Maintenance

Pyruvate kinase M2 (PKM2) has been shown to promote tumorigenesis by facilitating the Warburg effect and enhancing the activities of oncoproteins. However, this paradigm has recently been challenged by studies in which the absence of PKM2 failed to inhibit and instead accelerated tumorigenesis in mouse models. These results seem inconsistent with the fact that most human tumors overexpress PKM2. To further elucidate the role of PKM2 in tumorigenesis, we investigated the effect of PKM2 knockout in oncogenic HRAS-driven urothelial carcinoma. While PKM2 ablation in mouse urothelial cells did not affect tumor initiation, it impaired the growth and maintenance of HRAS-driven tumors. Chemical inhibition of PKM2 recapitulated these effects. Both conditions substantially reduced complex formation of PKM2 with STAT3, their nuclear translocation, and HIF1α- and VEGF-related angiogenesis. The reduction in nuclear STAT3 in the absence of PKM2 also correlated with decreased autophagy and increased apoptosis. Time-controlled, inducible PKM2 overexpression in simple urothelial hyperplasia did not trigger tumorigenesis, while overexpression of PKM2, but not PKM1, in nodular urothelial hyperplasia with angiogenesis strongly accelerated tumorigenesis. Finally, in human patients, PKM2 was overexpressed in low-grade nonmuscle-invasive and high-grade muscle-invasive bladder cancer. Based on these data, PKM2 is not required for tumor initiation but is essential for tumor growth and maintenance by enhancing angiogenesis and metabolic addiction. The PKM2-STAT3-HIF1α/VEGF signaling axis may play a critical role in bladder cancer and may serve as an actionable therapeutic target.

SIGNIFICANCE

Genetic manipulation and pharmacologic inhibition of PKM2 in mouse urothelial lesions highlight its essential role in promoting angiogenesis and metabolic addiction, events indispensable for tumor growth and maintenance.

Cruciferous Vegetable Intervention to Prevent Cancer Recurrence in Non-Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer Survivors: Development using a Systematic Process (Preprint)

Background

Bladder cancer is one of the top 10 most common cancers in the United States. Most bladder cancers (70%-80%) are diagnosed at early stages as non–muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC), which can be removed surgically. However, 50% to 80% of NMIBC cases recur within 5 years, and 15% to 30% progress with poor survival. Current treatments are limited and expensive. A wealth of preclinical and epidemiological evidence suggests that dietary isothiocyanates in cruciferous vegetables (Cruciferae) could be a novel, noninvasive, and cost-effective strategy to control NMIBC recurrence and progression.

Objective

The aim of this study is to develop a scalable dietary intervention that increases isothiocyanate exposure through Cruciferae intake in NMIBC survivors.

Methods

We worked with a community advisory board (N=8) to identify relevant factors, evidence-based behavior change techniques, and behavioral theory constructs used to increase Cruciferae intake in NMIBC survivors; use the PEN-3 Model focused on incorporating cultural factors salient to the group’s shared experiences to review the intervention components (eg, the saliency of behavioral messages); administer the revised intervention to community partners for their feedback; and refine the intervention.

Results

We developed a multicomponent intervention for NMIBC survivors consisting of a magazine, tracking book, live telephone call script, and interactive voice messages. Entitled POW-R Health: Power to Redefine Your Health, the intervention incorporated findings from our adaptation process to ensure saliency to NMIBC survivors.

Conclusions

This is the first evidence-based, theoretically grounded dietary intervention developed to reduce bladder cancer recurrence in NMIBC survivors using a systematic process for community adaptation. This study provides a model for others who aim to develop behavioral, community-relevant interventions for cancer prevention and control with the overall goal of wide-scale implementation and dissemination.

Tackling tumor microenvironment through epigenetic tools to improve cancer immunotherapy

BACKGROUND

Epigenetic alterations are known contributors to cancer development and aggressiveness. Additional to alterations in cancer cells, aberrant epigenetic marks are present in cells of the tumor microenvironment, including lymphocytes and tumor-associated macrophages, which are often overlooked but known to be a contributing factor to a favorable environment for tumor growth. Therefore, the main aim of this review is to give an overview of the epigenetic alterations affecting immune cells in the tumor microenvironment to provoke an immunosuppressive function and contribute to cancer development. Moreover, immunotherapy is briefly discussed in the context of epigenetics, describing both its combination with epigenetic drugs and the need for epigenetic biomarkers to predict response to immune checkpoint blockage.

MAIN BODY

Combining both topics, epigenetic machinery plays a central role in generating an immunosuppressive environment for cancer growth, which creates a barrier for immunotherapy to be successful. Furthermore, epigenetic-directed compounds may not only affect cancer cells but also immune cells in the tumor microenvironment, which could be beneficial for the clinical response to immunotherapy.

CONCLUSION

Thus, modulating epigenetics in combination with immunotherapy might be a promising therapeutic option to improve the success of this therapy. Further studies are necessary to (1) understand in depth the impact of the epigenetic machinery in the tumor microenvironment; (2) how the epigenetic machinery can be modulated according to tumor type to increase response to immunotherapy and (3) find reliable biomarkers for a better selection of patients eligible to immunotherapy.

Coming of Age of Immunotherapy of Urothelial Cancer

Following platinum-based regimens becoming the reference standard of care, it has taken almost four decades to find a systemic treatment that improved overall survival in metastatic urothelial tumors. Single-agent immune checkpoint inhibitors have not only improved overall survival but also the quality of life of patients with metastatic urothelial tumors after failure of platinum-based regimens and as a maintenance therapy after four to six cycles of standard first-line chemotherapy. In addition, very promising data are emerging when single-agent immunotherapy is offered as adjuvant or neoadjuvant treatment for patients with muscle-invasive disease and also in the non-muscle-invasive setting. There is an extensive debate about the role of PD-L1 expression as a reliable biomarker to predict the activity of immune-based regimens. Furthermore, the lack of consensus concerning its utility means that there is a need for more and better tools to identify patients who are likely to benefit from these novel approaches. The field of urothelial tumors now additionally exploits novel antibody-drug conjugates and fibroblast growth factor-receptor inhibitors that are being tested in combination with immunotherapy. This added complexity contributes to an enormous increase in the challenges that will be faced shortly.

Synthesis and biological evaluation of quercetin-zinc (II) complex for anti-cancer and anti-metastasis of human bladder cancer cells

Bladder cancer is the 13th leading cause of cancer death worldwide, and its mortality rate is highly associated with the motility of the malignant cells. Although the techniques of urothelial cancer treatment have been continuously advanced in the last decade, the invasive bladder cancer remains incurable and the mean survival time of the patients with high-grade malignancy after cancer relapse is still < 6 months, indicating a new strategy which can reduce bladder cancer cell motility and/or progression is urgently needed. Quercetin is a polyphenolic flavonoid with approved anti-tumor effect. However, the drawbacks of quercetin, including low absorption, extensive metabolism, and rapid elimination, severely hamper its availability in the clinic. In this study, we aim to synthesize the quercetin-zinc complex (Q-ZnCPX) and explore its anti-cancer and anti-metastasis efficacies on human bladder cancer cells in vitro. Based on the results of cell movement and protein expressions in BFTC-905 cells, we found that both cell migratability and invasiveness were markedly reduced by the Q-ZnCPX with concentration of ≥ 12.5 μM through p-AKT and MT1-MMP regulations compared to the cells without treatment (P < 0.05). Moreover, the synthesized Q-ZnCPX with ≥ 75 μM can even provide > 50% of mortality rate (P < 0.05) to the cancer cell after 24-h treatment. These results demonstrated that the synthetic Q-ZnCPX may serve as feasible tool for both anti-cancer and anti-metastasis on human bladder cancer cells dependent on the dosage.

Bladder preservation approach versus radical cystectomy for high-grade non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer: a meta-analysis of cohort studies

BACKGROUND

High-grade non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer is superficial; nonetheless, it is an aggressive cancer. Proper management strategy selection following transurethral resection between bladder preservation (BP) and radical cystectomy (RC) could result in delayed or excessive treatment. Hence, selecting the optimal treatment modality remains controversial to date.

METHODS

We searched MEDLINE, The Cochrane Library, EMBASE, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and Wanfang database through 12 April 2018. Quality and publication bias were assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale and Begg's/Egger's test. We collected 2-year, 5-year, 10-year, and 15-year survival rate and hazard ratio (HR) for overall survival (OS), cancer-specific survival (CSS), and progression-free survival (PFS). Using the Review Manager 5.2 software, we used the odds ratio (OR) of specific years and HR for meta-analysis. Subgroup analysis was performed by the original tumor state, radical cystectomy timing, bladder preservation modality, and age.

RESULTS

In total, 11 cohorts with 1735 patients were selected for the meta-analysis. All OR of OS supported BP as a better treatment option; however, all OR of PFS had no significant differences. As for CSS, only the 15-year OR reflected a statistical significance preferring RC. Subgroup analysis showed that BP is more appropriate for patients older than 65 and G3 tumor. Limited data demonstrated that late RC (> 3 months) is more effective compared to early RC (< 3 months) and intravesical Bacillus Calmette-Guerin was not statistically different from that of RC. The mixed BP modalities were significantly better compared to RC in OS and worse in CSS, with both having a very low evidence strength.

CONCLUSIONS

BP is a superior treatment modality compare to RC, especially for older patients and T1G3 or lower grade tumors. However, the superior BP modality was unclear. Conversely, RC could be a better option for younger patients. More specifically, late RC may be more beneficial but had a very-low-level of evidence. Quality of life should be considered equal to survival outcome; hence, post-treatment follow-up needs to be performed. Prospective randomized studies should be performed to overcome the limitations of this meta-analysis study.

REGISTRATION

Registration ID is CRD42018093491 .

Therapeutic efficacy of the live-attenuated Mycobacterium tuberculosis vaccine, MTBVAC, in a preclinical model of bladder cancer

Intravesical instillation of bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) has been a first-line therapy for non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer for the last 4 decades. However, this treatment causes serious adverse events in a significant number of patients and a substantial percentage of recurrence episodes. MTBVAC is a live-attenuated vaccine derived from a Mycobacterium tuberculosis clinical isolate and is currently under evaluation in clinical trials to replace BCG as a tuberculosis vaccine. Here, we describe for the first time the potential of MTBVAC as a bladder cancer therapy in vitro and in vivo in a preclinical model. MTBVAC colonized human bladder tumor cells to a much greater extent than BCG via a mechanism mediated by macropinocytosis and induced cell growth inhibition after internalization. In vivo testing in an orthotopic murine model of bladder cancer demonstrated a higher antitumor effect of MTBVAC in experimental conditions in which BCG did not work. Our data encourage further studies to support the possible application of MTBVAC as a new immunotherapeutic agent for bladder cancer.