Urothelial bladder cancer (UBC) remains one of the most common and deadly cancers worldwide, and platinum-based chemotherapy, which has been the standard-of-care in metastatic bladder cancer, has had limited success in improving outcomes for patients. The recent development and translation of therapeutic strategies aimed at harnessing the immune system have led to durable and prolonged survival for patients with several different cancers, including UBC. In this review, we discuss new findings in bladder cancer immunotherapy, including recent successes with immune checkpoint blockade. We also discuss therapeutic cancer vaccines and highlight several additional immunotherapy modalities in early stages of development.
©2015 American Association for Cancer Research.