Background
urothelial cancer, CHASIT, UC
RESIDUAL DISEASE, BLADDER, METASTASES, RESIDUAL TUMOR
Patients with locally advanced irresectable or clinically node positive urothelial cancer (UC) have a poor outcome. Currently, these patients can only be cured by receiving induction chemotherapy and, if an adequate radiological response is obtained, radical surgical resection. Long-term survival, however, strongly depends on the absence of residual tumor in the surgical resection specimen, i.e. a pathological complete response (pCR). The reported pCR rate following induction chemotherapy in locally advanced or clinically node-positive UC is 15%. The 5-year overall survival rate for patients achieving a pCR is 70–80% versus 20% for patients who have residual disease or nodal metastases. This clearly demonstrates the unmet need to improve clinical outcome of these patients. Recently, the JAVELIN Bladder 100 study demonstrated an overall survival benefit of sequential chemo-immunotherapy in patients with metastatic UC. The CHASIT study aims to translate these findings to the induction setting by assessing the efficacy and safety of sequential chemo-immunotherapy in patients with locally advanced or clinically node-positive UC. In addition, patient biomaterials are collected to investigate biological mechanisms of response and resistance to chemo-immunotherapy.