Targeted therapy of patients with urothelial carcinoma

Selection of optimal complex method of treatment of different clinical forms of bladder cancer (BC) is an actual problem. In case of complex therapy (CT) of urothelial carcinoma (UC) necessity of combined usage of different treatment methods is advised, which includes surgical, photodynamic and non-specific BCG immunotherapy, or BCG in combination with interleukins or Toll-like receptors. Targeted therapy (TT) of tumor, aimed at the main pathogenetic mechanisms of development of neoplastic process, opens new opportunities and horizons for its inclusion into the CT program. The work presents data of scientific studies, showing the multiplicity of molecular ways of tumor progression and invasion in case of BC. Attention is drawn to the fact that the epidermal growth factor receptor (EFGR), vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2/Neu) and insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF1R) may serve as targets when performing TT of metastatic forms of BC. However, insufficient efficiency of obtained data, moderate level of evidentiary basis on clinical efficiency of proposed methods for UC, and small amount of clinical data, require performance of further studies regarding development of principles and optimization of treatment schedules for different UC forms and determination of their reliable relevance.