Targeting the Tumor Microenvironment with Immunotherapy for Genitourinary Malignancies
Opinion statement
Bacillus Calmette-Guérin in urothelial carcinoma, high-dose interleukin-2 in renal cell carcinoma, and sipuleucel-T in prostate cancer serve as enduring examples that the host immune response can be harnessed to promote effective anti-tumor immunity in genitourinary malignancies. Recently, cancer immunotherapy with immune checkpoint inhibitors has transformed the prognostic landscape leading to durable responses in a subset of urothelial carcinoma and renal cell carcinoma patients with traditionally poor prognosis. Despite this success, many patients fail to respond to immune checkpoint inhibitors and progression/relapse remains common. Furthermore, modest clinical activity has been observed with ICIs as a monotherapy in advanced PCa. As such, novel treatment approaches are warranted and improved biomarkers for patient selection and treatment response are desperately needed. Future efforts should focus on exploring synergistic and rational combinations that safely and effectively boost response rates and survival in genitourinary malignancies. Specific areas of interest include (1) evaluating the optimal sequencing, disease burden, and timing of immuno-oncology agents with other anti-cancer therapeutics and (2) validating novel biomarkers of response to immunotherapy to optimize patient selection and to identify individuals most likely to benefit from immunotherapy across the heterogenous spectrum of genitourinary malignancies.
Keywords
Immunotherapy Bladder cancer Urothelial carcinoma Prostate cancer Renal cell carcinoma Kidney Tumor microenvironmentAbbreviations
- FDA
Food and Drug Administration
- IO
Immuno-oncology
- GU
Genitourinary
- UC
Urothelial carcinoma
- RCC
Renal cell carcinoma
- PCa
Prostate cancer
- TME
Tumor microenvironment
- ICI
Immune checkpoint inhibitor
- NMIBC
Non-muscle invasive bladder cancer
- BCG
Bacillus Calmette-Guérin
- PS
Performance status
- CTLA-4
Cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen-4
- PD-1
Programmed cell death protein-1
- PD-L1
Programmed cell death-ligand 1
- ORR
Objective response rate
- IC
Tumor-infiltrating immune cells
- mOS
Median overall survival
- TC
Tumor cells
- AEs
Adverse events
- CPS
Combined positive score
- OS
Overall survival
- IFN
Interferon
- GEP
Gene expression profiling
- TCGA
The Cancer Genome Atlas
- IDO1
Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase 1
- PFS
Progression-free survival
- MIBC
Muscle-invasive bladder cancer
- mRCC
Metastatic renal cell carcinoma
- HD-IL-2
High-dose interleukin-2
- TKIs
Tyrosine kinase inhibitors
- DC
Dendritic cell
- (IMDC)
International Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma Database Consortium
- Tregs
Regulatory T cells
- RECIST
Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors
- irRC
Immunerelated response criteria
- mCRPC
Metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer
- ADT
Androgen deprivation therapy
- dMMR
Mismatch repair deficient
- MSI-H
Microsatellite instability-high
Notes
Compliance with Ethical Standards
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent
This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.
References and Recommended Reading
Papers of particular interest, published recently, have been highlighted as: • Of importance •• Of major importance
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