October 2023

UROLOGY

IMMUNOTHERAPY IN THE TREATMENT OF LOCALIZED GENITOURINARY CANCERS

Featuring: Joshua J. Meeks, MD, PhD

Joshua J. Meeks, MD, PhD, is the Edward M. Schaeffer, MD, PhD Professor of Urology and associate professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics at Northwestern Medicine. A study featuring Dr. Meeks highlights the significant impact of immunotherapy (IO) in the management of advanced genitourinary cancers. The therapeutic benefits of IO have been observed not only in patients with disseminated disease but also in select patients with localized and locally advanced genitourinary neoplasms.

The study discusses several key observations from recent trials. The KEYNOTE-057 trial demonstrated the effectiveness of pembrolizumab monotherapy in treating high-risk nonmuscle invasive bladder cancer that is unresponsive to bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG). This led to the recent approval of pembrolizumab by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Another ongoing phase 3 trial, Checkmate274, showed a disease-free survival benefit when adjuvant nivolumab was administered compared to placebo in muscle-invasive urothelial carcinoma after radical cystectomy. Additionally, the phase 3 KEYNOTE 564 trial, which received significant attention, demonstrated a recurrence-free survival benefit of adjuvant pembrolizumab in patients with high-risk localized/locally advanced kidney cancer.

Read more about the study. 
Joshua J. Meeks, MD, PhD the Edward M. Schaeffer, MD, PhD Professor of Urology and a Northwestern Medicine urologist.

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