Urothelial Carcinoma of the Upper Urinary Tract: What Changed?

A special issue of Cancers (ISSN 2072-6694).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2023) | Viewed by 10163

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Guest Editor
Department of Urology & Andrology, Paracelsus Medical University Salzburg, 5020 Salzburg, Austria
Interests: non-muscle invasive bladder cancer; muscle invasive bladder cancer; robotic surgery
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Dear Colleagues, 

Upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) is rare, accounting for just 5–10% of all urothelial tumours, with an incidence of just 1–2:100,000 in the Western population; therefore, high-quality RCT’s are rare and significant changes that are slow in comparison to other uro-oncologic entities. With this Special Issue on UTUC, we would like to focus on some changes and or novelties, which occurred in the last years in uncommon disease.

The tendency to opt for kidney-sparing treatment for UTUC is increasing. Nephro-ureterectomy (RNU) is no longer regarded as the only possible treatment for UTUC, especially in low-grade cancer. Accepted conservative treatments are segmental ureteral resection and endourological approaches, which include distal ureterectomy and retrograde ureteroscopy/percutaneous access with different laser systems.

Adjuvant treatment is gaining popularity after any type of treatment for UTUC in order to reduce the risk of recurrence and progression. Several topic agents have been applied after radical or conservative therapy for UTUC via irrigation through indwelling catheter and or percutaneous drainage.

Last but not least, adjuvant gemcitabine–platinum combination chemotherapy is now standard after RNU having improved disease-free survival in patients with pT2–pT4, N (any) or LN-positive (pT any, N1–3) M0 UTUC. The intrinsic limit is given by the fact that after RNU, more than 50% of patients treated for UTUC develop a chronic kidney failure, limiting the possibility of an adjuvant treatment. Additionally, histologic variants have alternating results after adjuvant gemcitabine–platinum combination chemotherapy.

More research and randomized clinical trials are needed to define which adjuvant systemic therapy could be applied in chronic kidney failure and in histologic variants.    

Prof. Dr. Lukas Lusuardi
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • upper tract urothelial carcinoma
  • adjuvant intracavitary therapy
  • transitional cell carcinoma
  • laser
  • mitomcycin
  • PD-L1
  • PD-1
  • chemotherapy

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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17 pages, 1758 KiB  
Article
Prognostic Value of Comorbidity for Patients with Upper Tract Urothelial Carcinoma after Radical Nephroureterectomy
by Hung-Lung Ke, Ching-Chia Li, Hsiang-Ying Lee, Hung-Pin Tu, Yu-Ching Wei, Hsin-Chih Yeh, Wen-Jeng Wu and Wei-Ming Li
Cancers 2022, 14(6), 1466; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14061466 - 12 Mar 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2254
Abstract
Patients with upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) have a high prevalence of comorbidities. However, the prognostic impact of comorbidities in these patients is not well studied. We aimed to outline the comorbidity burden in UTUC patients and investigate its relationship with overall survival [...] Read more.
Patients with upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) have a high prevalence of comorbidities. However, the prognostic impact of comorbidities in these patients is not well studied. We aimed to outline the comorbidity burden in UTUC patients and investigate its relationship with overall survival (OS), cancer-specific survival (CSS), and progression-free survival (PFS). We retrospectively reviewed the clinicopathological data of 409 non-metastatic UTUC patients who received radical nephroureterectomy between 2000 and 2015. The comorbidity burden was evaluated using the Adult Comorbidity Evaluation-27 (ACE-27). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that high ACE-27 grade was significantly associated with worse PFS, CSS, and OS. In multivariate Cox regression and competing risk analyses, we found that ACE-27 grade, tumor stage, and tumor grade were independent prognosticators of OS, CSS, and PFS. We combined these three significant factors to construct a prognostic model for predicting clinical outcomes. A receiver operating characteristic curve revealed that our prognostic model had high predictive performance. The Harrel’s concordance indices of this model for predicting OS, CSS, and PFS were 0.81, 0.85, and 0.85, respectively. The results suggest that the UTUC patient comorbidity burden (ACE-27) provides information on the risk for meaningful clinical outcomes of OS, CSS, and PFS. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urothelial Carcinoma of the Upper Urinary Tract: What Changed?)
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27 pages, 6507 KiB  
Article
MicroRNA-375-3p Suppresses Upper Tract Urothelial Carcinoma Cell Migration and Invasion via Targeting Derlin-1
by Jhen-Hao Jhan, Wei-Chi Hsu, Yi-Chen Lee, Wei-Ming Li, A-Mei Huang, Hui-Hui Lin, Chien-Sheng Wang, Yi-Ru Wu, Ching-Chia Li, Wen-Jeng Wu and Hung-Lung Ke
Cancers 2022, 14(4), 880; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14040880 - 10 Feb 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2324
Abstract
Little is known regarding the molecular characterization of upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC). Novel therapeutic targets and prognostic predictors are imminent. In the present study, we aim to examine the oncogenic function and molecular mechanism of Derlin-1 in UTUC. Derlin-1 overexpression is significantly [...] Read more.
Little is known regarding the molecular characterization of upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC). Novel therapeutic targets and prognostic predictors are imminent. In the present study, we aim to examine the oncogenic function and molecular mechanism of Derlin-1 in UTUC. Derlin-1 overexpression is significantly associated with poor prognosis in patients with UTUC. In vitro, knockdown or over-expression of Derlin-1 markedly regulated UTUC cell invasion and migration. We further discovered miR-375-3p suppresses cell invasion and migration by inversely regulating Derlin-1 and blocking EMT in UTUC cells. Taking this together, miR-375-3p functions as a tumor suppressive microRNA by directly targeting Derlin-1 and blocking epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) in UTUC. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urothelial Carcinoma of the Upper Urinary Tract: What Changed?)
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Review

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14 pages, 609 KiB  
Review
A Review of How Lasers Are Used in UTUC Surgery: Can the Choice of Laser Affect Outcomes?
by Mark Taratkin, Nirmish Singla, Diana Babaevskaya, Alexander Androsov, Shahrokh F. Shariat, Harun Fajkovic, Jack Baniel and Dmitry Enikeev
Cancers 2023, 15(6), 1874; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers15061874 - 21 Mar 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2125
Abstract
Upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) is a relatively rare disease with an aggressive phenotype compared to urothelial carcinoma in the bladder. In recent years, kidney-sparing surgery (KSS) and, in particular, endoscopic surgery have become the procedure of choice among urologists where the treatment [...] Read more.
Upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) is a relatively rare disease with an aggressive phenotype compared to urothelial carcinoma in the bladder. In recent years, kidney-sparing surgery (KSS) and, in particular, endoscopic surgery have become the procedure of choice among urologists where the treatment of localized UTUC is concerned. Endoscopy tends to result in satisfactory oncological disease control while lowering morbidity and minimizing complications amongst the appropriately selected cohort of patients. While endoscopic surgery for UTUC might appear to be standardized, it, in fact, differs considerably depending on the source of energy used for resection/ablation. There has been little reliable data up to now on which laser energy source is the most superior. The goal of this review is, therefore, to outline the results of endoscopic UTUC treatment using different lasers and to analyze how these laser-tissue interactions may affect the surgery. We start by pointing out that the data remains insufficient when trying to determine which laser is the most effective in the endoscopic management of UTUC. The ever-growing number of indications for minimally invasive treatment and the increasing number of centers using laser surgery will, hopefully, lead to novel randomized controlled trials that compare the performance characteristics of the lasers as well as the effects of UTUC on patients. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urothelial Carcinoma of the Upper Urinary Tract: What Changed?)
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Other

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19 pages, 7042 KiB  
Systematic Review
Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy before Nephroureterectomy in High-Risk Upper Tract Urothelial Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
by David Oswald, Maximilian Pallauf, Susanne Deininger, Peter Törzsök, Manuela Sieberer and Christian Eiben
Cancers 2022, 14(19), 4841; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14194841 - 4 Oct 2022
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2420
Abstract
Neoadjuvant chemotherapy is a well-established concept in muscle-invasive bladder cancer with known advantages in overall survival. Phase II trials show encouraging response rates for neoadjuvant immunotherapy before radical surgery in urothelial cancer. There is no recommendation for neoadjuvant therapy in upper tract urothelial [...] Read more.
Neoadjuvant chemotherapy is a well-established concept in muscle-invasive bladder cancer with known advantages in overall survival. Phase II trials show encouraging response rates for neoadjuvant immunotherapy before radical surgery in urothelial cancer. There is no recommendation for neoadjuvant therapy in upper tract urothelial carcinoma before nephroureterectomy. Our aim was to assess the available data on neoadjuvant chemotherapy and immunotherapy before nephroureterectomy in patients with high-risk upper tract urothelial carcinoma in terms of pathological downstaging and oncological outcomes. Two investigators screened PubMed/Medline for comparative trials in the English language. We identified 368 studies and included eleven investigations in a systematic review and meta-analysis for neoadjuvant chemotherapy and control groups. There were no comparative trials investigating immunotherapy in this setting. All 11 studies reported on overall pathological downstaging with a significant effect in favor of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (OR 5.17; 95%CI 3.82; 7.00). Pathological complete response and non-muscle invasive disease were significantly higher in patients receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy (OR 12.07; 95%CI 4.16; 35.03 and OR 1.62; 95%CI 1.05; 2.49). Overall survival and progression-free survival data analysis showed a slight benefit for neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Our results show that neoadjuvant chemotherapy is effective in downstaging in upper urinary tract urothelial carcinoma. The selection of patients and chemotherapy regimens are unclear. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urothelial Carcinoma of the Upper Urinary Tract: What Changed?)
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