Novel molecular targets for urothelial carcinoma

Introduction: Urothelial cancer (UC) remains a significant public health problem, with no new second-line agents FDA-approved in the US. Next-generation sequencing technologies are starting to generate a molecular landscape of UC thus revealing novel molecular targets. Areas covered: In this review, the authors provide a detailed review of novel molecular targets in UC based on published genomic analyses of urothelial tumors. We provide an overview of each molecular target with a brief discussion of therapeutic strategies and clinical trials targeting each pathway. Expert opinion: UC continues to be a lethal disease with no FDA-approved effective second-line therapies. Platinum resistance continues to be a daunting clinical problem. Next-generation sequencing methods have led to the elucidation of numerous molecular targets in UC, including PI3K, to the elucidation of numerous molecular targets in UC, including PI3K, ERBB2 and FGFR3, among many others. These molecular perturbations can be exploited therapeutically with targeted therapies in patient populations enriched for these molecular alterations, thus paving the way for precision medicine in UC management.