Molecular Pathways and Biomarkers in Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy for Bladder Cancer

Listen to a blog summary of a research paper published in Volume 13, entitled, "Predictive molecular biomarkers for determining neoadjuvant chemosensitivity in muscle invasive bladder cancer." _______________________________________________ Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) is a type of cancer treatment involving the administration of chemotherapy drugs before surgery. The goal of NAC is to shrink the tumor(s) in order to make it/them easier to remove during surgery and to decrease the chance of cancer recurrence after treatment. NAC is typically well tolerated by patients and has been shown to improve outcomes in patients with bladder cancer. Predictive biomarkers are being increasingly used in oncology to identify patients who are likely to respond to chemotherapy. In the past, the decision to administer chemotherapy was based on tumor type and stage. However, it is now understood that there is considerable heterogeneity within these groups, and that not all patients will respond to the same treatment. Predictive biomarkers can help to overcome this challenge by identifying those patients who are most likely to benefit from chemotherapy. There are a number of different types of predictive biomarkers, which can be divided into two broad categories: tumor biomarkers and host biomarkers. Tumor biomarkers are usually specific to the tumor type and can include markers of cell proliferation and DNA repair. Host biomarkers are usually found in the blood or other bodily fluids and can include markers of inflammation, immune function and metabolism. The use of predictive biomarkers has the potential to improve the efficacy of chemotherapy and reduce toxicity by avoiding its use in patients who are unlikely to benefit. In a new study, researchers Neal Murphy, Andrew J. Shih, Paras Shah, Oksana Yaskiv, Houman Khalili, Anthony Liew, Annette T. Lee, and Xin-Hua Zhu from Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, Northwell Health Cancer Institute, Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, and Mayo Clinic aimed to develop and validate a predictive biomarker panel for response to NAC in patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC). Their research paper was published on November 2, 2022, in Oncotarget’s Volume 13, entitled, “Predictive molecular biomarkers for determining neoadjuvant chemosensitivity in muscle invasive bladder cancer.” Full blog - https://www.oncotarget.org/2022/11/15/biomarkers-may-predict-neoadjuvant-chemosensitivity-in-bladder-cancer/ DOI - https://doi.org/10.18632/oncotarget.28302 Correspondence to - Neal Murphy - nmurphy2@northwell.edu, Annette T. Lee - alee@northwell.edu, and Xin-Hua Zhu - xzhu1@northwell.edu Press release - https://www.oncotarget.com/index.php?journal=oncotarget&page=news&op=press&item=oncotarget-predictive-molecular-biomarkers-for-determining-neoadjuvant-chemosensitivity-in-muscle-invasive-bladder-cancer Keywords - muscle invasive bladder cancer, neoadjuvant chemotherapy, gene expression, molecular subtyping, canonical correlation analysis About Oncotarget Oncotarget is a primarily oncology-focused, peer-reviewed, open access journal. Papers are published continuously within yearly volumes in their final and complete form, and then quickly released to Pubmed. On September 15, 2022, Oncotarget was accepted again for indexing by MEDLINE. Oncotarget is now indexed by Medline/PubMed and PMC/PubMed. To learn more about Oncotarget, please visit https://www.oncotarget.com and connect with us: SoundCloud - https://soundcloud.com/oncotarget Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Oncotarget/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/oncotarget Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/oncotargetjrnl/ YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/OncotargetYouTube LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/oncotarget Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/oncotarget/ Reddit - https://www.reddit.com/user/Oncotarget/