A step towards cancer precision for patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma

Dr Niklas Klümper, resident of the Urology Clinic and team leader at the Institute of Experimental Cancer at the University Hospital Bonn (UKB), is investigating which patients with metastatic bladder cancer benefit from a new form of cancer therapy—conjugated antibody drugs—to be able to use these promising drugs effectively. His new findings were published this December in the journal Clinical cancer research.

Chemotherapy used to treat aggressive and metastatic urothelial carcinoma is often associated with multiple side effects. Recently, a new drug, called antibody-drug conjugateapproved for patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma.

The antibody-drug conjugate consists of an antibody directed against the tumor cell surface in combination with a highly toxic chemotherapeutic agent. This combines the selectivity of targeted antibody therapy with the cytotoxic potential of conventional chemotherapy, representing a new and innovative cancer treatment.

Using antibody-drug conjugates

The Department of Urology at UKB is also using this new drug to treat patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma.

“Enfortumab vedotin is the first approved antibody conjugate drug and is very promising for the treatment of patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma. However, we still understand very little about who really gets it. benefit from this therapy, which may also cause serious side effects As skin irritation or neurological disorders,” says Dr Niklas Klümper, physician assistant at the Urology Clinic at UKB.

Targeted therapy does not reach all tumor cells

“We were able to show for the first time that the surface molecule for targeted delivery of chemotherapeutic agents in metastatic urothelial carcinoma is often reduced or absent. The lack of this surface structure, possibly, may be the case. detected by routine immunohistochemistry, is associated with resistance to enfortumab vedotin, so these patients may be better treated with alternative therapies. I am a step towards cancer correctness for patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma,” said Dr. Klümper.

His goal is to ensure that these potentially toxic drugs are administered only to patients who might also benefit from the therapy. Dr Klümpers’ experience with the new drug, which could be very relevant for treatment, is shared with a network of other hospitals and university clinics as part of the research, so that they reach as many patients as possible. as possible to optimize therapy.