{"id":11801,"date":"2026-09-25T15:03:53","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T13:03:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\/?p=11801"},"modified":"2026-09-28T10:35:41","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T08:35:41","slug":"metastatic-bladder-cancer-new-insights-into-tumour-spread-and-chemotherapy-resistance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\/en\/metastatic-bladder-cancer-new-insights-into-tumour-spread-and-chemotherapy-resistance\/","title":{"rendered":"Metastatic bladder cancer: new insights into tumour spread and chemotherapy resistance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hartwig data supports <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-026-11035-z\">new <em>Nature<\/em> study<\/a> on lethal metastatic bladder cancer. Researchers used the Hartwig Medical Database to independently validate a DNA repair mechanism that appears to prevent chemotherapy from effectively treating an aggressive bladder cancer subtype.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A new study published in <em>Nature<\/em> has mapped how lethal metastatic bladder cancer evolves and spreads, enabled by the rapid autopsy programme at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center and the University of Washington. The researchers profiled 8 primary tumors and 80 metastases from 20 patients with terminal disease and studied what contributed to their treatment outcomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Plasmacytoid urothelial carcinoma and resistance to platinum chemotherapy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One of the study\u2019s central findings concerns plasmacytoid urothelial carcinoma, an aggressive subtype that shows a low burden of \u201cplatinum associated mutational scarring\u201d compared to conventional disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">DNA repair pathway linked to chemotherapy resistance in bladder cancer<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The authors traced this to a known DNA repair pathway (also involved in Fanconi anaemia) and confirmed in cell models that activating this pathway can lead to drug resistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Hartwig data links DNA repair to platinum chemotherapy response<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To test whether the relationship held beyond their own (small) autopsy cohort, they turned to the Hartwig Medical Database. The metastatic urothelial carcinoma data requested included whole genome sequencing linked to real world treatment records. In the data, the researchers found the same inverse correlation between DNA repair pathway activity and platinum activity (as measured by DNA scarring) in cisplatin treated patients, confirming their findings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What terminal bladder cancer research reveals about treatment response<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This study shows that even though deeply characterized cohorts of terminal disease are small, they can be highly valuable for in-depth insights. Their findings became more actionable when checked against a large uniformly processed resource.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Potential impact for Dutch patients with metastatic bladder cancer<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hartwig\u2019s data turned a mechanism observed in twenty patients into a hypothesis worth pursuing for patients receiving platinum chemotherapy for metastatic urothelial cancer. Even for this rare cancer, this could impact about 100 patients each year in the Netherlands according to Dutch National Cancer Registry statistics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Relevant publications and datasets<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Reference: Itagi, P., Schuster, S. L. et al. Evolution and heterogeneity of lethal metastatic bladder cancer subtypes. Nature (2026). <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/s41586-026-11035-z\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/s41586-026-11035-z<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hartwig cohort as described in: NakaumaGonz\u00e1lez, J. A. et al. Comprehensive molecular characterization reveals genomic and transcriptomic subtypes of metastatic urothelial carcinoma. Eur. Urol. 81, 331\u2013336 (2022).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.probci.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Richters-et-al.-2021-Eur-Urol-Focus.pdf\">IKNLled publication on therapy usage for Metastatic Urothelial Carcinoma of the Bladder.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hartwig data supports new Nature study on lethal metastatic bladder cancer. Researchers used the Hartwig Medical Database to independently validate &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":11802,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[74,75,85,76,73,82],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dna","category-hartwig-medical-database","category-learning-healthcare-system","category-molecular-diagnostics","category-personalized-treatment","category-research"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Metastatic Bladder Cancer: DNA Repair &amp; Chemotherapy Resistance<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"New research on metastatic bladder cancer shows how DNA repair may contribute to resistance to platinum chemotherapy.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\/en\/metastatic-bladder-cancer-new-insights-into-tumour-spread-and-chemotherapy-resistance\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Metastatic Bladder Cancer: DNA Repair &amp; Chemotherapy Resistance\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"New research on metastatic bladder cancer shows how DNA repair may contribute to resistance to platinum chemotherapy.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\/en\/metastatic-bladder-cancer-new-insights-into-tumour-spread-and-chemotherapy-resistance\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Hartwig Medical Foundation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-25T13:03:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-09-28T08:35:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/blaaskanker-data-dna.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2327\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1368\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Bruna Venturinelli\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bruna Venturinelli\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\\\/en\\\/metastatic-bladder-cancer-new-insights-into-tumour-spread-and-chemotherapy-resistance\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\\\/en\\\/metastatic-bladder-cancer-new-insights-into-tumour-spread-and-chemotherapy-resistance\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Bruna Venturinelli\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b7bf28d0bffa1159e98c8810f2b89ef\"},\"headline\":\"Metastatic bladder cancer: new insights into tumour spread and chemotherapy resistance\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-25T13:03:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-28T08:35:41+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\\\/en\\\/metastatic-bladder-cancer-new-insights-into-tumour-spread-and-chemotherapy-resistance\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":414,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\\\/en\\\/metastatic-bladder-cancer-new-insights-into-tumour-spread-and-chemotherapy-resistance\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/blaaskanker-data-dna.jpeg\",\"articleSection\":[\"DNA\",\"Hartwig Medical Database\",\"Learning healthcare system\",\"Molecular diagnostics\",\"Personalized treatment\",\"Research\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\\\/en\\\/metastatic-bladder-cancer-new-insights-into-tumour-spread-and-chemotherapy-resistance\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\\\/en\\\/metastatic-bladder-cancer-new-insights-into-tumour-spread-and-chemotherapy-resistance\\\/\",\"name\":\"Metastatic Bladder Cancer: DNA Repair & Chemotherapy Resistance\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\\\/en\\\/metastatic-bladder-cancer-new-insights-into-tumour-spread-and-chemotherapy-resistance\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\\\/en\\\/metastatic-bladder-cancer-new-insights-into-tumour-spread-and-chemotherapy-resistance\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/blaaskanker-data-dna.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-25T13:03:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-28T08:35:41+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b7bf28d0bffa1159e98c8810f2b89ef\"},\"description\":\"New research on metastatic bladder cancer shows how DNA repair may contribute to resistance to platinum chemotherapy.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\\\/en\\\/metastatic-bladder-cancer-new-insights-into-tumour-spread-and-chemotherapy-resistance\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\\\/en\\\/metastatic-bladder-cancer-new-insights-into-tumour-spread-and-chemotherapy-resistance\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/blaaskanker-data-dna.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/blaaskanker-data-dna.jpeg\",\"width\":2327,\"height\":1368,\"caption\":\"Blaaskanker data\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\\\/\",\"name\":\"Hartwig Medical Foundation\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b7bf28d0bffa1159e98c8810f2b89ef\",\"name\":\"Bruna Venturinelli\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\\\/en\\\/author\\\/bruna-venturinelli\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Metastatic Bladder Cancer: DNA Repair & Chemotherapy Resistance","description":"New research on metastatic bladder cancer shows how DNA repair may contribute to resistance to platinum chemotherapy.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\/en\/metastatic-bladder-cancer-new-insights-into-tumour-spread-and-chemotherapy-resistance\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Metastatic Bladder Cancer: DNA Repair & Chemotherapy Resistance","og_description":"New research on metastatic bladder cancer shows how DNA repair may contribute to resistance to platinum chemotherapy.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\/en\/metastatic-bladder-cancer-new-insights-into-tumour-spread-and-chemotherapy-resistance\/","og_site_name":"Hartwig Medical Foundation","article_published_time":"2026-09-25T13:03:53+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-09-28T08:35:41+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2327,"height":1368,"url":"https:\/\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/blaaskanker-data-dna.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Bruna Venturinelli","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Bruna Venturinelli","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\/en\/metastatic-bladder-cancer-new-insights-into-tumour-spread-and-chemotherapy-resistance\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\/en\/metastatic-bladder-cancer-new-insights-into-tumour-spread-and-chemotherapy-resistance\/"},"author":{"name":"Bruna Venturinelli","@id":"https:\/\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\/#\/schema\/person\/7b7bf28d0bffa1159e98c8810f2b89ef"},"headline":"Metastatic bladder cancer: new insights into tumour spread and chemotherapy resistance","datePublished":"2026-09-25T13:03:53+00:00","dateModified":"2026-09-28T08:35:41+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\/en\/metastatic-bladder-cancer-new-insights-into-tumour-spread-and-chemotherapy-resistance\/"},"wordCount":414,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\/en\/metastatic-bladder-cancer-new-insights-into-tumour-spread-and-chemotherapy-resistance\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/blaaskanker-data-dna.jpeg","articleSection":["DNA","Hartwig Medical Database","Learning healthcare system","Molecular diagnostics","Personalized treatment","Research"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\/en\/metastatic-bladder-cancer-new-insights-into-tumour-spread-and-chemotherapy-resistance\/","url":"https:\/\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\/en\/metastatic-bladder-cancer-new-insights-into-tumour-spread-and-chemotherapy-resistance\/","name":"Metastatic Bladder Cancer: DNA Repair & Chemotherapy Resistance","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\/en\/metastatic-bladder-cancer-new-insights-into-tumour-spread-and-chemotherapy-resistance\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\/en\/metastatic-bladder-cancer-new-insights-into-tumour-spread-and-chemotherapy-resistance\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/blaaskanker-data-dna.jpeg","datePublished":"2026-09-25T13:03:53+00:00","dateModified":"2026-09-28T08:35:41+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\/#\/schema\/person\/7b7bf28d0bffa1159e98c8810f2b89ef"},"description":"New research on metastatic bladder cancer shows how DNA repair may contribute to resistance to platinum chemotherapy.","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\/en\/metastatic-bladder-cancer-new-insights-into-tumour-spread-and-chemotherapy-resistance\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\/en\/metastatic-bladder-cancer-new-insights-into-tumour-spread-and-chemotherapy-resistance\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/blaaskanker-data-dna.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/blaaskanker-data-dna.jpeg","width":2327,"height":1368,"caption":"Blaaskanker data"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\/","name":"Hartwig Medical Foundation","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\/#\/schema\/person\/7b7bf28d0bffa1159e98c8810f2b89ef","name":"Bruna Venturinelli","url":"https:\/\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\/en\/author\/bruna-venturinelli\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11801"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11801\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11811,"href":"https:\/\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11801\/revisions\/11811"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}