Cancer Immunotherapy: Epidemiology1-15
- Lung cancer is the most common cancer type worldwide. NSCLC accounts for 85-90% of lung cancer cases.
- Smoking plays a causative role in 70-90% of all lung cancer cases.
- Urothelial bladder cancers are the 9th most common form of cancer in the world. Urothelial carcinoma accounts for 90-95% of cases and represents the most common type of bladder cancer.
- The 5-year overall survival rate of metastatic bladder cancer is less than 15%. Approximately 30% of new bladder cancer patients present with muscle invasive tumors that can rapidly progress and metastasize, all of which are associated with a poor prognosis.
- The number of patients eligible for cisplatin-based treatment for urothelial bladder cancers is decreasing to less than 50%, exposing a need to expand treatment options for this patient cohort.
- As the 12th most common cancer in the world (along with pancreatic cancer), the incidence of renal cell carcinoma varies, with the highest rates in the Czech Republic and North America.
- Immune checkpoint inhibitors are considered to be the most important breakthrough in cancer treatment in the past decade.
- Since 2010, new immunotherapies (not linked to cytokines) such as sipuleucel, ipilimumab, pembrolizumab, durvalumab, nivolumab and atezolizumab have gained various indications for prostate cancer, melanoma, NSCLC and bladder cancer.
- The most advanced immunotherapies available for cancer treatment include cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-antigen 4 inhibitors (CTLA-4), programmed cell death protein1 (PD-1) inhibitors and programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) inhibitors.
- A recent study of European oncologists revealed less than 50% of the oncologists surveyed reported understanding immune-related response criteria and their relevance to cancer immunotherapy.
- The most common AEs in recent clinical trials evaluating PD-1 pathway inhibition include fatigue, nausea, rash, diarrhea, decreased appetite and infusion-related reactions.
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