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

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…

• UD
  U.S. Department of Defense

  Award: HT9425-25-1-0489
• BW
  Burroughs Wellcome Fund
• VF
  V Foundation for Cancer Research
• VA
  Virginia and D.K. Ludwig Fund for Cancer Research
• NI
  National Institutes of Health

  Awards: U01CA230691, RA37CA230400, R21NS113016