New horizons in bladder cancer research

• Published in: Urologic oncology 2020-12, Vol.38 (12), p.867-885
• Main Authors: Boormans, Joost L., Zwarthoff, Ellen C., Black, Peter C., Goebell, Peter J., Kamat, Ashish M., Nawroth, Roman, Seiler, Roland, Williams, Stephen B., Schmitz-Dräger, Bernd J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Basic research; Bladder cancer; Clinical trials; International Bladder Cancer Network (IBCN); Molecular classifier; Tumor models
• ISSN: 1078-1439; 1873-2496
• DOI: 10.1016/j.urolonc.2018.12.014

•Personalized therapy particularly for advanced bladder cancer is rapidly approaching.•This evolution depends upon a precise molecular definition of an individual tumor and close monitoring of respective changes over the course of disease.•In consequence, there is a high demand for a consensus molecular classification.•The IBCN continues to evolve as a forum bringing together researchers from different fields, specialties, and nations. The 16th Meeting of the International Bladder Cancer Network (IBCN) took place from October 11 to 13, 2018 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. As in the previous year, muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) was the main topic of the congress based upon the rapid evolution in this field over the last several years. This year´s meeting was dominated by presentations focusing on genomic subtyping in MIBC and identification of novel therapeutic targets. These topics were complemented by submissions on immunotherapy, a variety of clinical topics, and biomarker research. Based upon the presentations, it may be concluded that the IBCN increasingly serves as an interdisciplinary forum not only for the presentation of work-in-progress covering all facets of bladder cancer research, but also for catalyzing the discussion of discrepant research findings in an effort to find consensus. The 16th Meeting of the IBCN took place from October 11 to 13th, 2018 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, hosted by Ellen Zwarthoff and Joost Boormans. Approximately 120 participants gathered for another fully packed program displaying recent achievements in basic and clinical research covering the entire spectrum of bladder cancer. This year's meeting was dominated by presentations focusing on genomic subtyping and identification of novel therapeutic targets. These topics were complemented by submissions on immunotherapy, clinical topics, and biomarker research. Keynote lectures were delivered by G. Robertson (Canada) on MIBC genomics and the organizational challenges of the PanCancerAtlas project. Comprehensive information was provided on the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) project including the structure of the consortium and the development and validation of molecular classification of MIBC. Results from the project suggest that regulons (groups of genes controlled by a common regulator) appear to be correlated with prognosis and may replace gene expression analysis in the future. M. Thelen (Switzerland) discussed the role of chemokines in cancer metastasization repo