Developing Precision Medicine for Bladder Cancer.

Overview

The hallmark of precision medicine involves tailoring the treatment to the patient and/or tumor-specific biomarkers. Candidate biomarkers in bladder cancer are abundant, but few have been validated in clinical practice. Significant obstacles to precision medicine in bladder cancer include the limited predictive value of candidate biomarkers, lack of standardization in biomarker assessment, heterogeneity in biomarker expression and function, and limited insight into the biologic factors that influence biomarker expression and predictive capacity. This review summarizes key biomarkers explored in bladder cancer and outlines innovative trial designs to approach these obstacles.