What Patients With Genitourinary Cancers Should Know After ASCO 2025

Dr. Joshua K. Sabari sat down with Dr. Daniel V. Araujo to discuss topline takeaways from the 2025 ASCO Annual Meeting across the realm of genitourinary oncology, spanning prostate and bladder cancers. In the interview, the pair covered updates from the AMPLITUDE trial evaluating patients with prostate cancer, as well as discussed the utility of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in muscle-invasive bladder cancer

Sabari is the editor in chief of CURE, as well as the assistant professor in the Department of Medicine at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and director of High Reliability Organization Initiatives at Perlmutter Cancer Center. Araujo serves as a medical oncologist at the University of Florida Health (UF) Health.

The pair began by delving into the AMPLITUDE trial, a randomized controlled trial, investigating the role of Akeega (niraparib plus abiraterone acetate [Zytiga]) versus Zytiga for patients with metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer whose disease has homologous recombination repair (HRR) gene defects.

During a presentation shared at the ASCO Meeting, investigators revealed that with the investigative combination, there was a 37% reduction in the risk of radiographic progression or death compared with the placebo combination in this previously treated patient population. Moreover, the risk symptomatic progression was significantly reduced by 50% with the investigative combination versus placebo. Overall survival data, though not statically significant yet, are also showing trends towards improvement with Akeega.

“This data will likely be assessed by the FDA and other regulators,” Araujo said of the data discussed.

Also during their conversation, Sabari and Araujo broke down the current role of ctDNA in the genitourinary cancers landscape. ctDNA are small pieces of DNA which can be detected and are released by tumor cells into a person’s blood. If detected early, ctDNA has the potential to guide treatment decisions, and has already displayed a prognostic effect in those with muscle-invasive bladder cancer.

“Here, we're seeing in bladder cancer the utilization of ctDNA, as you mentioned, and as a molecular biomarker to help potentially guide therapy. [These are] very exciting updates,” Sabari concluded.

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