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Advances in the Treatment of Urological Cancer
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Advances in the Treatment of Urological Cancer

A special issue of Cancers (ISSN 2072-6694). This special issue belongs to the section "Cancer Therapy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2026 | Viewed by 6061

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Anna Patrikidou

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Genito-Urinary Oncology Team, Department of Cancer Medicine and Drug Development and Innovation Department, Gustave Roussy, Université Paris-Saclay, 114 Rue Edouard Vaillant, 94800 Villejuif, France
Interests: testicular cancer; prostate cancer; urothelial cancer; immunotherapy; de-escalation strategies; biomarkers; treatment resistance
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The progress made in the treatment of urological oncology has been extraordinary in recent years. New treatments, such as immunotherapies, hormonal and targeted therapies, antibody–drug conjugates, and radioligand therapies, have improved survival rates and quality of life for patients with various urological cancers. Additionally, precision medicine tools, utilising various platforms of molecular testing, have allowed for more personalised treatment plans. We are now entering an era of carefully crafting de-escalation and intensification approaches for metastatic disease, as well as intelligent early relapse detection and adjuvant therapy strategies. Our next-generation clinical trials are biomarker-guided, such as minimal residual disease detection surrogates that range from simple proteins (PSA in prostate cancer or PD-L1 expression in renal cancer) to microRNAs (miRNA-371 in testicular cancer) or ctDNA detection (urothelial cancer), or even radiomics (PSMA and other metabolic imaging in prostate cancer). This Special Issue invites the submission of papers focused on various therapies (e.g., chemotherapy, hormone therapy, immunotherapy, targeted therapy, radioligand therapies, novel therapeutics) in urological cancers.

Dr. Anna Patrikidou
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Cancers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • urological oncology
  • chemotherapy
  • hormone therapy
  • immunotherapy
  • targeted therapy
  • radioligand therapy
  • antibody-drug conjugates
  • novel therapeutics

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Review

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14 pages, 1164 KB  
Review
Gene Therapy for BCG-Unresponsive Non-Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer: Current Evidence and Future Directions
by Philippe Pinton
Cancers 2025, 17(22), 3631; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers17223631 - 12 Nov 2025
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 5373
Abstract
Background: Bladder cancer is the ninth most prevalent cancer globally. Most cases are urothelial carcinoma, classified as non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) or muscle invasive bladder cancer (MIBC); approximately 70% are diagnosed as NMIBC. Current standard of care for high-risk NMIBC includes transurethral [...] Read more.
Background: Bladder cancer is the ninth most prevalent cancer globally. Most cases are urothelial carcinoma, classified as non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) or muscle invasive bladder cancer (MIBC); approximately 70% are diagnosed as NMIBC. Current standard of care for high-risk NMIBC includes transurethral tumour resection, followed by intravesical therapy with Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG). However, significant unmet needs persist due to disease recurrence, BCG unresponsiveness, or progression to MIBC. Radical cystectomy is recommended after BCG unresponsiveness but may not be viable due to its invasiveness and morbidity. The paucity of treatment options for BCG-unresponsive NMIBC has driven research into alternatives such as gene therapy. The bladder’s anatomy allows direct vector–tumour contact, while urine and tissue samples allow for easy monitoring of therapeutic effects. Methods: This narrative review integrates findings from recent clinical and preclinical studies identified through comprehensive searches of peer-reviewed literature to provide an overview of the current landscape of gene therapy for BCG-unresponsive NMIBC. Results: Nadofaragene firadenovec, a recombinant adenovirus delivering interferon alpha-2b (IFNα2b), is the first FDA-approved gene therapy for BCG-unresponsive NMIBC with carcinoma in situ (CIS). A phase III nadofaragene firadenovec study (NCT02773849) demonstrated a 53% complete response (CR) rate at 3 months; and 43% of patients with CIS had bladder preservation at 60 months. Cretostimogene grenadenorepvec (CG0070), an oncolytic vector, demonstrated a 47% 6-month CR rate in a phase II study (NCT02365818). Detalimogene voraplasmid (EG-70), a nonviral gene therapy, demonstrated a 47% 6-month CR in a phase I/II study (NCT04752722). Future advances are likely to focus on patient selection, novel vectors, and combination strategies to improve treatment outcomes. Conclusions: Gene therapy represents a significant addition to the bladder cancer treatment landscape by offering bladder-sparing alternatives where conventional therapies are limited. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in the Treatment of Urological Cancer)
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Other

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51 pages, 996 KB  
Systematic Review
Neoadjuvant Treatment for Penile Cancer: A Systematic Review of Contemporary Evidence
by Jordan Santucci, Daniel Crisafi, Niranjan Sathianathen, Renu Eapen, Damien Bolton, Declan Murphy, Nathan Lawrentschuk and Marlon Perera
Cancers 2026, 18(10), 1595; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers18101595 - 14 May 2026
Viewed by 332
Abstract
Background/Objectives: Penile squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is a rare but aggressive malignancy in which survival declines sharply once regional lymph nodes are involved. Neoadjuvant therapy is recommended for clinically node-positive disease to improve resectability and address micro-metastatic spread; however, the supporting evidence [...] Read more.
Background/Objectives: Penile squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is a rare but aggressive malignancy in which survival declines sharply once regional lymph nodes are involved. Neoadjuvant therapy is recommended for clinically node-positive disease to improve resectability and address micro-metastatic spread; however, the supporting evidence remains limited. We systematically reviewed contemporary data on neoadjuvant strategies for penile SCC, including cytotoxic chemotherapy, radiotherapy, immunotherapy, and molecularly targeted agents. Methods: A systematic search of MEDLINE, EMBASE, ClinicalTrials.gov, and CENTRAL was conducted from inception to January 2026 in accordance with MECIR guidance. Eligible studies included patients with histologically confirmed penile cancer treated with neoadjuvant intent prior to curative surgery. Primary outcomes were objective response rate (ORR), pathological complete response (pCR), progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS). Data were synthesised narratively by treatment modality. Results: Forty-two studies met the inclusion criteria (32 chemotherapy, five radiotherapy, five immunotherapy, three targeted therapy). The evidence base was dominated by retrospective cohorts with limited prospective phase II data and no completed randomised trials. Across chemotherapy studies, the median reported ORR was 50% (range 29–90%), with pCR/ypN0 rates ranging 10–25%. Median reported PFS and OS were approximately 11 and 18 months, respectively, with durable survival concentrated among responders undergoing complete surgical consolidation. Radiotherapy data were sparse and heterogeneous. Early-phase immunotherapy combinations reported higher short-term response and pCR signals than historical chemotherapy, though the results were based on small single-arm cohorts. Molecularly targeted systemic monotherapy demonstrated modest activity. Conclusions: Neoadjuvant taxane–platinum-based chemotherapy remains the guideline-supported standard for cN2-3 penile SCC, supported by phase II and retrospective data but limited by methodological heterogeneity and absence of randomised evidence. Emerging combination immunotherapy strategies show promising efficacy signals and warrant prospective validation within biomarker-informed trial frameworks. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in the Treatment of Urological Cancer)
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