Exceptional response to immunotherapy in association with radiotherapy in patient with breast metastasis from urothelial carcinoma: A case report

Giulia Bonfante; Emanuela Fantinel; Cristina Masini; Franco Bergamaschi; Salvatore Micali; Bernardo Rocco

doi:10.1016/j.eucr.2020.101444

Exceptional response to immunotherapy in association with radiotherapy in patient with breast metastasis from urothelial carcinoma: A case report

Urol Case Rep. 2020 Oct 9:34:101444. doi: 10.1016/j.eucr.2020.101444. eCollection 2021 Jan.

Authors

Giulia Bonfante¹, Emanuela Fantinel², Cristina Masini², Franco Bergamaschi³, Salvatore Micali¹, Bernardo Rocco¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Urology, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, 41124 Modena, Italy.
² Department of Medical Oncology, Azienda USL-IRCCS di Reggio Emilia, 42123 Reggio Emilia, Italy.
³ Department of Urology, Azienda USL-IRCCS di Reggio Emilia, 42123 Reggio Emilia, Italy.

Abstract

Most common sites of metastasis of urothelial carcinoma (UC) are lungs, liver, lymph nodes and bone. Pembrolizumab, a humanized monoclonal antibody directed against programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1), represents an effective second-line therapy for advanced UC. Radiotherapy has been shown to induce a mechanism of immunogenic cell death (ICD) resulting in immune memory and advantageous systemic effects. We present the first case of breast metastasis (BM) from a UC described in literature who had an exceptional response to second-line therapy with pembrolizumab in association with radiotherapy, showing the efficacy of combining immunotherapy and radiotherapy even in patients with atypical metastatic sites.

Keywords: Breast metastasis; Immune checkpoint inhibitor; Metastatic urothelial carcinoma; PD-1; Radiotherapy.

Publication types

Case Reports