[Subversion] Studies have shown that patients with bladder cancer with mutations in the FGFR3 gene can still benefit from immunotherapy

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Author: Tiffany Introduction: Bladder cancer is a urinary system tumor with a relatively high incidence.
For most patients with bladder cancer with low malignancy, the most common symptom, It may be painless gross hematuria and hematuria.
Early B-ultrasound and cystoscopy may find early bladder cancer
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However, when bladder cancer enters the advanced stage, it is very difficult to cure
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Recently, a researcher has made new discoveries and breakthroughs in the treatment of bladder cancer.
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A new study shows that patients with advanced bladder cancer whose tumors have a mutated FGFR3 gene are treated by immunotherapy The response is similar to that of patients without the mutation, a finding that runs counter to the previous hypothesis
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This study, led by scientists at the University of North Carolina's Laneberg Comprehensive Cancer Center, is of great significance for patients who have not received immunotherapy due to genetic characteristics.
The results of this study were published in the British Journal of Cancer
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The National Cancer Institute estimates that by 2021, 83,730 people in the United States will be diagnosed with bladder cancer, which will cause 17,200 deaths
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Although cancer is treatable when diagnosed at an early stage, the five-year survival rate is about 6% in advanced cases where the cancer has spread to other parts of the body
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In the group of patients with low survival rates, approximately 15% of tumors have mutations in the FGFR3 gene, making this gene overactive and leading to high mortality from the disease
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"Although previous work has shown that immunotherapy is not used to treat FGFR3 mutant bladder cancer, our research shows the opposite, so we believe that immunotherapy should be provided without hesitation," William Y.
Kim said he is the Rush S.
Dickson Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Professor of Genetics, and the author of this paper
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Recently, some major advances have been made in the treatment of bladder cancer
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In 2019, the FDA approved a drug Erdafitinib (Balversa) that targets FGFR3 and helps prolong the survival time of patients
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In addition, immune checkpoint blocking drugs, commonly called immunotherapy, have recently been approved for advanced bladder cancer
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Before this decade, treatment was mainly limited to systemic, platinum-based chemotherapy
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"Clinical trials have shown that bladder cancers with FGFR3 mutations have fewer immune cells, mainly T cells, than cancers without mutations
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Since tumors with low levels of immune cells tend to respond poorly to immune checkpoint blockade, it is assumed The response rate of these patients to immunotherapy is very low
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" said Tracy Rose, MD, Master of Public Health, UNC School of Medicine, and co-first author of the paper, from the Reinberg Comprehensive Cancer Center
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To test this hypothesis, researchers at the Reinberg Comprehensive Cancer Center designed a study that compared tumor tissue samples and clinical trial data from 17 FGFR3 mutant bladder cancer patients with 86 patients whose tumors did not have mutations
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The researchers found that patients with FGFR3 mutations responded to immunotherapy in the same way as patients without mutations
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At the cellular level, they also found that in tumors with and without FGFR3 mutations, T cell receptors have the same diversity, and the immune suppression and immune activation signals tend to be similar and balanced
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This equivalence or balance suggests that the chances of benefiting from immunotherapy are similar
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Kim said: "The standard of care for advanced bladder cancer has become quite complicated, but it is a good thing to have more options.
Today, most patients will receive chemotherapy, and then, if needed, erdatinib or immunotherapy can be used to treat FGFR3.
Altered tumors
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” Researchers hope to establish a clinical trial to test whether patients with altered FGFR3 benefit more from erdatinib or immunotherapy
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"Our study does not rule out the possibility of Erdafitinib and immunotherapy synergistically," said co-first author William Weir, a doctoral student in medicine
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"If anything, the fact that patients with FGFR3 changes benefit from immunotherapy proves that this may be a reasonable approach
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" The new findings of FGFR3 gene mutation therapy research really make us happy.
There is a long way to go, and there will be more in the future.
In-depth research in many directions will bring the gospel to more cancer patients
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Reference materials: https:// Note: This article is intended to introduce the progress of medical research and cannot be used as a reference for treatment options
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If you need health guidance, please go to a regular hospital
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