Immunotherapy of High Risk Non-Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer

Introduction: Bladder cancer remains a prevalent and often lethal cancer. Fortunately, recent clinical trials using immunotherapeutics demonstrate promise to improve treatment outcomes. Several of these immunotherapies have already established their value in the metastatic space and likely will soon have indications in the non-metastatic space. Areas covered: This review will cover immunotherapies ranging for well-studied BCG administration to more novel medications such as PD-L1/PD-1 inhibitors, CTLA-4 inhibitors, IL-15 super agonists, and immune modulating gene therapies. Specifically, this article will address the mechanisms of actions, clinical evidence supporting their use, and the presence of any FDA regulatory approval for these medications in the treatment of high-risk non-muscle invasive bladder cancer. Expert opinion: With the publication of clinical data supporting the use of immunotherapies, these novel medications are likely to be adopted for treatment of high-grade non-metastatic bladder cancer. While BCG is likely to remain a primary medication for high-grade bladder cancer for the near future, BCG will likely be co-administered with immunomodulatory medications in some patients to enhance the medications effect in the future. Clinical trials are still ongoing and will demonstrate which of these multiple treatment options yield results worthy of a modification in our current treatment paradigm.