Monitoring of plasma and urine tumor-derived DNA to inform bladder-sparing approaches for patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer.

ABSTRACT: We previously reported initial results from a clinical trial testing a strategy in which patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) achieving a clinical complete response after cystoscopic resection of the bladder tumor plus systemic therapy could forgo removal of their entire bladder (cystectomy). While the results were highly promising, a subset of patients omitting initial cystectomy developed recurrence highlighting the need for biomarkers to refine selection of patients for this approach. We here report long-term follow-up of these patients and investigate whether tumor DNA in the plasma (ctDNA) or urine (utDNA) could inform prognosis and the need for cystectomy. Three-year bladder-intact survival among patients with a complete clinical response following four rounds of syste

SUBMITTER: Galsky MD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12870604 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature