Improving bladder-sparing treatment for muscle-invasive bladder cancer by targeting DNA repair changes
Official title: Targeting Nucleotide Excision Repair Deficiency to Improve Bladder Sparing Treatment for Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer
Funded at Dana-Farber Cancer Inst · NIH-11162292 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This work looks at whether bladder cancers with specific DNA-repair gene changes make bladder-preserving chemo-and-radiation more effective so more patients can avoid bladder removal.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Dana-Farber Cancer Inst NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Boston, United States) |
| Project start | September 22, 2022 |
| Project end | August 31, 2027 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $866,727 |
| NIH project number | 4R01CA272657-04 |
| Project ID | NIH-11162292 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
People with newly diagnosed muscle-invasive bladder cancer who can provide tumor tissue and are weighing bladder-preserving chemoradiotherapy versus cystectomy are the ideal candidates.
✕Less likely to help
Patients with non-muscle-invasive disease, widely metastatic bladder cancer, or tumors without ERCC2 changes may not benefit from this specific approach.
What this research studies
If you have muscle-invasive bladder cancer, the team will look for changes in a DNA-repair gene called ERCC2 in tumor tissue. They will compare how tumors with ERCC2 changes respond to standard cisplatin-based chemoradiotherapy versus tumors without those changes, using patient tumor samples and clinical outcome data. In lab models they will also test how ERCC2-deficient bladder cancer cells react to chemotherapy and radiation to understand why responses differ. The goal is to find a molecular marker that could help doctors and patients choose bladder-sparing treatment when it's likely to work.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could help identify patients who can safely keep their bladder by choosing chemoradiation instead of bladder removal.
How similar studies have gone: Previous work showed ERCC2 mutations make bladder tumors more sensitive to cisplatin chemotherapy, but using that marker to guide combined chemo‑radiation decisions is a novel step.
Where this research is happening
-
Dana-Farber Cancer Inst
Boston, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Mouw, Kent W — Dana-Farber Cancer Inst
- Study coordinator: Mouw, Kent W
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.