LAUSR

Genito-urinary (GU) malignancies are composed of a heterogeneous group of diseases affecting prostate, kidney, bladder, upper tract, testes, and penis. These cancers depict different biology, natural histories, outcomes and therefore harbor different levels of unmet needs. With regards to treatment strategies, they involve at different levels of surgery, radiation therapy, and systemic therapy. Almost all modalities of systemic treatment have been used and evaluated for the management of GU cancers, including chemotherapy, antiangiogenic therapies, and hormonal treatments. Immune-based treatments have also been used with demonstrated benefit in renal cell carcinoma (cytokine treatments) and bladder cancer (intravesical BCG). The advent of more sophisticated immunotherapies in the form of immune checkpoint inhibitors (monoclonal antibodies targeting specific regulatory immune factors) has evolved the landscape of cancer treatment. The most prominent of the monoclonal antibodies currently in use target the PD-1 or PD-L1 and CTLA-4 pathways [1, 2]. Those therapies are also changing the landscape of treatment of GU cancers and have been evaluated as well in numerous clinical trials in GU oncology, especially in renal cell carcinoma and bladder cancer; therefore, becoming standard of care and integral part of international guidelines, available for daily practice administration. In the current edition of the World Journal of Urology, we put together an overview of the rationale, current evidence and foremost future of immune checkpoint inhibition in GU cancers [3–10]. We hope that the uro-oncological community will find these state of art manuscripts of great interest and we would like, especially, to thank the authors that contributed to the success of this edition and the editorial board for the invitation.