Bladder Cancer Awareness Month 2025: Current Developments and Insights in the Treatment of Bladder Cancer

May is Bladder Cancer Awareness Month and at Frontiers in Oncology, we are dedicated to spotlighting the groundbreaking discoveries transforming the landscape of bladder cancer treatment and care. We want to highlight recent discoveries in the field and raise awareness about the significance of early diagnosis, multidisciplinary management, and the pivotal role of technological innovation in combating bladder cancer.

Bladder cancer is one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers worldwide with a poor survival rate and prognosis. Bladder cancer is a heterogenous disease with more than 70% of patients diagnosed with non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC).This form of bladder cancer is primarily treated surgically by transurethral resection, and may be followed by intravesical therapy depending upon risk classification. The remaining 20-30% of patients have muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MBIC) or metastatic urothelial cancer (mUC) which require more aggressive treatments such as cystectomy or radiation therapy combined with systemic chemotherapy, or systemic therapy alone.

The goal of this Research Topic is to generate a discussion of the current research exploring advances in bladder cancer and to spotlight innovations that could improve clinical pathways, treatments and outcomes. Recent breakthroughs in immunotherapy and antibody-drug conjugates, have transformed treatment options for advanced bladder cancer. Despite advancements in bladder cancer research, disparities in access to care remain a significant challenge. We aim to bring together leading researchers and clinicians to share their insights regarding the advancements which are the driving force behind modernising the treatment of bladder cancer to improve the prognosis and survival rates for patients. By focusing on the latest developments in molecular biology, early diagnostic and monitoring techniques as well as novel therapeutic strategies, this platform seeks to highlight both the challenges and opportunities in addressing bladder cancer.

We welcome Original Research, Review, Systematic Reviews, Case Reports and Mini-Reviews.

Please note: manuscripts consisting solely of bioinformatics or computational analysis of public genomic or transcriptomic databases which are not accompanied by validation (independent cohort or biological validation in vitro or in vivo) are out of scope for this section and will not be accepted as part of this Research Topic.