Liquid Biopsy Can Guide Treatment in Bladder Cancer

A liquid biopsy biomarker may act as a guide when determining treatment between radical cystectomy and bladder preservation in muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC, according to a presentation by David T. Miyamoto, MD, PhD at the 2020 American Society of Clinical Oncology Genitourinary Cancers Symposium.

Although this non-invasive test can be performed repeatedly, obtaining enough circulating tumor cells for use can be difficult, he said.

Dr Miyamoto discussed findings from a large meta-analysis including 1339 patients from 20 studies. Circulating tumor cells were detectable in 20%-30% of patients with non-metastatic bladder cancer versus 40%-100% of patients with metastatic bladder cancer. Circulating tumor cells were significantly associated with stage 3 or stage 4 cancers (OR 4.6, 95% CI 2.3-9.0).

Reference

Miyamoto DR. 2020 ASCO Genitourinary Cancers Symposium (#GU20), February 13th-February 15th, San Francisco, CA.

Zhang Z, Fan W, Deng Q, et al. The prognostic and diagnostic value of circulating tumor cells in bladder cancer and upper tract urothelial carcinoma: a meta-analysis of 30 published studies. Oncotarget 2017; 8(35).