Targeted Therapies in Bladder Cancer

Matthew D. Galsky, MD, assistant professor of medicine, Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, director, Genitourinary Medical Oncology, Tisch Cancer Institute at Mount Sinai Medical Center, discusses targeted therapy treatments for bladder cancer.

Clinical Pearls:

• Targeting tumor angiogenesis and HSP27 could prove to be promising approaches in the treatment of bladder cancer
• While studies that are looking at anti-angiogenic approaches in bladder cancer have shown that the majority of patients do not respond, some patients did respond
• The combination of conventional chemotherapy and anti-angiogenic drugs is difficult to give because they have some overlapping side effects
• Targeting VEGF with an antibody might be more promising in terms of the ability to deliver both drugs effectively without overlapping toxicities
• A study that is exploring gemcitabine and cisplatin with or without bevacizumab should establish a role for this class of drugs in the treatment of bladder cancer