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

• Main Authors: Giulia Bonfante, Emanuela Fantinel, Cristina Masini, Franco Bergamaschi, Salvatore Micali, Bernardo Rocco
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2021-01-01
• Series: Urology Case Reports
• Subjects: Metastatic urothelial carcinoma; Breast metastasis; Immune checkpoint inhibitor; PD-1; Radiotherapy
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214442020303338

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.