Genitourinary Medical Oncology

Our areas of expertise in genitourinary medical oncology

Genitourinary (GU) cancer specialists at UCSF Health draw on many therapies to tailor treatment to your needs and preferences. Our personalized approach delivers more effective treatment with fewer side effects for better quality of life.

Chemotherapy for genitourinary cancers

Chemotherapy involves circulating medicine or a combination of medicines through your body to treat cancer systemically. For most GU cancers, we use chemotherapy before or after surgery. In some cases, such as for bladder cancer treatment, we use a combination of chemotherapy and radiation therapy (chemoradiation) as an alternative to surgery.

Targeted therapy for genitourinary cancers

At UCSF Health, we use sophisticated tests to learn about the molecular profile of cancer cells in your body. We use this information to determine which targeted therapies are most likely to be effective for you.

Targeted therapies prevent cancer cells from growing and dividing. They're designed to target specific molecules and genetic mutations unique to the type of cancer cells in your body. Targeted therapies are more precise and may be less likely to cause side effects than chemotherapy.

Immunotherapy for genitourinary cancers

Immunotherapy, a type of targeted therapy, harnesses your immune system to identify and attack cancer cells. Immunotherapy is often the primary treatment for kidney and bladder cancers.

Checkpoint inhibitors are the most common type of immunotherapy for GU cancers. Immune cells have an "off switch" that prevents them from attacking healthy cells, but it also stops them from recognizing cancer cells as harmful invaders. Checkpoint inhibitors disable the off switch so your immune system can fight cancer.

UCSF Health is a leader in the development of new immunotherapies. More than a decade ago, we were instrumental in getting FDA approval for a checkpoint inhibitor used to treat kidney cancer. Our researchers are also investigating new treatments, such as cancer vaccines for bladder and prostate cancer.

Hormone therapy for prostate cancer

Hormone therapy, or androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), is a common treatment for prostate cancer. Prostate cancer needs androgens (male hormones), such as testosterone, to live. ADT reduces androgen levels in your body to slow tumor growth.

We may use hormone therapy in combination with radiation therapy or surgery for cancer that hasn't spread beyond the prostate. If prostate cancer has spread (metastasized), using a combination of hormone therapies improves long-term survival.

PSMA-targeted therapy for advanced prostate cancer

Radiation therapy can be an effective treatment for prostate cancer, but it may harm healthy tissue and cause other side effects. A new approach called PSMA-targeted therapy, a type of radionuclide therapy, delivers radioactive substances specifically to prostate cancer cells.

This treatment uses an advanced prostate imaging technique called PSMA PET-CT, developed at UCSF Health, that can detect individual prostate cancer cells anywhere in your body. Radionuclide therapy builds on this technology by delivering radioactive drugs directly to the cancer cells identified on the imaging scan.