Despite significant progress, metastatic urothelial cancer remains an incurable condition with a limited life expectancy. Platinum-based chemotherapy is still the mainstay of treatment for metastatic disease, but immunotherapy, antibody drug conjugates, and targeted agents have shown encouraging results in several recent practice changing trials. In this review, we discuss the standard of care, recent therapeutic advances, ongoing clinical trials, and future perspectives in metastatic urothelial carcinoma.

Background: Paclitaxel and carboplatin is the standard chemotherapy for the treatment of advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer. However, the benefit of adding programmed cell death 1 (PD-1)/programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) inhibitors to chemotherapy is still unclear. Method: We searched PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane, and Web of Science databases for randomized controlled trials that investigated PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors plus carboplatin and paclitaxel compared with carboplatin and paclitaxel in primary advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer. We computed hazard ratios (HRs) or risk ratios (RRs) for binary endpoints, with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). We used DerSimonian and Laird random-effect models for all endpoints. Heterogeneity was assessed using I² statistics. R, version 4.2.3, was used for statistical analyses. Results: A total of three studies and 1,431 patients were included. Compared with carboplatin plus paclitaxel-based chemotherapy, progression-free survival (PFS) rate (HR 0.32; 95% CI 0.23–0.44; p < 0.001) and overall survival (OS) at 30 months (RR 3.13; 95% CI 1.26–7.78; p = 0.01) were significant in favor of the PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors plus carboplatin and paclitaxel group in the mismatch repair–deficient subgroup. However, there were no significant differences in the mismatch repair–proficient subgroup for PFS (HR 0.74; 95% CI 0.50–1.08; p = 0.117) or OS at 30 months (RR 2.24; 95% CI 0.79–6.39; p = 0.13). Conclusion: Immunotherapy plus carboplatin-paclitaxel increased significantly PFS and OS among patients with advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer, with a significant benefit in the mismatch repair–deficient and high microsatellite instability population.

Trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-DXd) has shown promising results in patients with breast cancer brain metastases (BCBMs). We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of T-DXd in the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive BCBM population. We searched PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases as well as American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), and San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS) websites for clinical trials (CTs) and observational studies evaluating T-DXd in patients with HER2-positive BCBM. Heterogeneity was assessed with I² statistics. Random effects models were used for all statistical analyses, which were carried out using R software (version 4.2.2). Ten studies were included, six CTs (n = 189) and four observational studies (n = 130), with a total of 319 patients. The median progression-free survival was 15 months [95% confidence interval (CI) 13.9-16.1 months]. The objective response rate (ORR) was 61% (95% CI 52% to 70%), and the intracranial (IC)-ORR was 61% (95% CI 54% to 69%). No significant differences in ORR and IC-ORR were observed between CTs and observational studies (P = 0.31 and 0.58, respectively). The clinical benefit rate (CBR) was 80% (95% CI 52% to 94%), and the IC-CBR was 70% (95% CI 54% to 82%). The ORR was 68% (95% CI 57% to 77%) in the subgroup of patients with stable BMs and 60% (95% CI 48%-72%) in patients with active BM, with no significant difference between groups (P = 0.35). Our systematic review and meta-analysis supports the IC activity of T-DXd in patients with stable BM and active BM. International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO) under the protocol number CRD42023422589.

Background: Cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 (CDK4/6) inhibitors are approved for advanced breast cancer combined with endocrine therapy (ET). The efficacy of CDK4/6 inhibitors plus ET in hormone estrogen-positive, human epidermal growth factor 2-negative (HR+/HER2−) early-stage breast cancer (esBC) is still to be confirmed. Methods: We performed a systematic review and a meta-analysis to investigate the efficacy of CDK4/6i plus ET in esBC. Main outcomes included invasive disease-free survival (iDFS), distant relapse-free survival (DRFS), and overall survival (OS). We included only phase III randomized controlled trials. We used RStudio version 4.2.3, and we considered p < 0.05 to be statistically significant. Results: Four studies were selected, including 14,168 patients, of which 7089 were treated with CDK4/6i plus ET and 7079 received ET monotherapy. Regarding patient characteristics, 6828 (48.2%) were premenopausal. Compared with ET alone, iDFS rates (HR 0.81; 95% CI: 0.67, 0.98; p = 0.034) were significantly in favor of CDK4/6 inhibitors plus ET. However, there were no significant differences in DRFS (HR 0.79; 95% CI: 0.58, 1.07; p = 0.132) nor OS (HR 0.96; 95% CI: 0.69, 1.35; p = 0.829). Conclusions: Our results show that the addition of CDK4/6 inhibitors is associated with a significant benefit for HR+/HER2− esBC patients in iDFS. More studies and longer follow-up are needed to assess overall survival benefits.

Trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-DXd) has shown promising activity in patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive breast cancer (BC) and central nervous system (CNS) involvement. In this updated meta-analysis, we explore the effectiveness of T-DXd in a large subset of patients with HER2-positive BC and CNS disease. A systematic search was made on September 16th, 2024, for studies investigating T-DXd in the scenario of HER2-positive BC and brain metastases (BMs) and/or leptomeningeal disease (LMD). We used random effects models for all statistical analyses. We included 18 studies with 786 HER2-positive BC patients with CNS involvement (16 studies with 750 BMs patients and three studies with 36 LMD patients). We observed high overall antitumor responses (objective response rate [ORR], 60.4 %; disease control rate [DCR], 94.4 %; and clinical benefit rate [CBR], 79.3 %) and a 12-month PFS of 64.7 % and OS of 82.7 %. Intracranial ORR, DCR, and CBR were seen in 62.2 %, 88.6 %, and 68.6 % of patients, respectively, and 67.4 % achieved intracranial PFS at 12 months. Both stable and active BMs subgroups derived similar benefit from T-DXd. Better intracranial responses were seen for 33 patients with untreated BMs compared to 56 patients with previously treated or progressing lesions (odds ratio 3.82, 95 % confidence interval 1.3-10.8, p = 0.01). For the LMD group, T-DXd elicited intracranial ORR and CBR in 59.4 % and 94.1 % of patients, respectively. This updated meta-analysis continues to support the overall and intracranial activity of T-DXd in patients with HER2-positive BC and CNS involvement, including those with LMD.

We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the efficacy of EGFR-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) retreatment in advanced/metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. We systematically searched PubMed, Embase, Cochrane databases, ASCO, and ESMO websites for studies evaluating EGFR-TKI retreatment in advanced/metastatic NSCLC patients. All analyses were performed using R software (v.4.2.2). We included 19 studies (9 CTs and 10 retrospective cohorts) with a total of 886 patients. In a pooled analysis of all patients during retreatment with TKI, median OS was 11.7 months (95% confidence interval [CI] 10.2–13.4 months) and PFS was 3.2 months (95% CI 2.5–3.9 months). ORR was 15% (95% CI 10–21%) and DCR was 61% (95% CI 53–67%). The subanalysis by generation of TKI in the rechallenge period revealed a slightly better ORR for patients on 3rd generation TKI (p = 0.05). Some limitations include the high heterogeneity of some of the analyses and inability to perform certain subanalyses. Our results unequivocally support the benefit of EGFR-TKI rechallenge in EGFR-mutated NSCLC patients progressing on TKI treatment after a TKI-free interval. These findings may be especially valuable in areas where access to novel therapeutic drugs and clinical trials is limited.