Review Articles

In this Review, current vaccine-based approaches to treat prostate cancer are described. The authors discuss results from clinical trials in which overall vaccine safety and biological activity were shown, albeit with modest clinical activity, suggesting that the future of these approaches will be as part of combination therapies with agents targeting tumour-associated immune mechanisms of resistance.

Prostate cancer depends on the hormonal environment for growth. In this Review, the authors describe how this hormonal dependency can be studied in preclinical models. Advantages and limitations of these models are discussed to maximize the transfer of knowledge from scientific research to clinical applications.

Several approaches have been used to date to reproduce human spermatogenesis in vitro, which, however, mostly result in incomplete differentiation. In this Review, the authors describe advantages and limitations of current technologies for in vitro spermatogenesis. New approaches that could lead to the clinical translation of this technology to treat patients with male factor infertility are also discussed.

In this Review, the authors describe the evolution of vaginoplasty including surgical techniques, complications, and clinical and patient-reported outcomes and consider current controversies in techniques and areas for improvement.

Here, the authors explore how environmentally driven changes in the sperm epigenome can mediate paternal contributions to offspring health. They also describe innovations in human stem cell models that can be used to elucidate the paternal origins of health and disease.

Health-related quality of life can be affected by muscle-invasive bladder cancer treatment and should be assessed all the way through patient’s care. In this Review, the authors summarize available data on patient health-related quality of life after curative local treatment for muscle-invasive bladder cancer, also considering the effect of different surgical procedures or urinary diversion methods on patient quality of life.

In this Review, Lopez et al. discuss the history of penile transplantation, including the procedures and outcomes of transplants to date, as well as factors to consider for consistent, optimal outcomes. The authors also discuss the future of penile transplantation and suggest updates to the Baltimore criteria.

Mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 tumour suppressor genes are associated with prostate cancer risk, but optimal screening protocols for individuals with these mutations have been a subject of debate. In this Review, the authors discuss the risk associated with BRCA1/2 mutations and consider how, and whether, a screening programme should be implemented for these individuals.

In this Review, mechanistic findings of growth inhibition by supraphysiological androgens in prostate cancer are described, and insights from the results of using supraphysiological testosterone and the future clinical development of bipolar androgen therapy as an option for prostate cancer are discussed.

This Review summarizes current knowledge regarding salvage high-dose chemotherapy in relapsed germ cell tumours. The authors outline data from phase I and II clinical trials, phase III randomized trials and retrospective datasets, discuss controversies and provide recommendations.

In this Review, the authors discuss the novel concept of the prognostic role of prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)–PET across all prostate cancer disease states in the context of established prognostic tools and describe the future directions of research on the prognostic value of PSMA–PET.

In this Review, the authors provide a comprehensive overview of various in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo models of prostate cancer and discuss their respective advantages and limitations in the context of current needs and challenges in prostate cancer research and therapy.

The approval of immunotherapy agents to treat patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma revolutionized the therapeutic landscape for this disease, but a large number of patients still do not experience objective and durable response, and biomarkers to identify response to immunotherapy are urgently needed. In this Review, the authors describe strength and limitations of currently available prognostic and predictive biomarkers in metastatic renal cell carcinoma and discuss emerging promising biomarkers that deserve further investigation.

Here, Goss et al. explore the diagnostic potential of male reproductive small extracellular vesicles and the practical approaches of implementing point-of-need and multianalyte diagnostics in infertility treatment, detailing microfluidic small extracellular vesicle isolation and analysis as an accessible and effective approach to achieving this outcome.

The unfolded protein response has an important role in prostate cancer tumorigenesis. Here, the authors discuss its involvement in prostate cancer development and progression, interactions with androgen receptor signalling, and the therapeutic implications for the treatment of metastatic disease.

In this Review, the authors analyse all the steps of the multiparametric MRI-guided prostate cancer diagnostic pathway, focusing on quality assurance systems to minimize variation in performance and discussing quality control measures to assess and mitigate poor quality throughout the process.

Evidence has suggested that the intestinal microbiome might have a role in maintaining oxalate homeostasis and kidney stone disease and that the urinary microbiome might also influence the induction of crystal formation and stone growth directly in the kidney. In this Review, the authors discuss the mechanisms by which these microbial populations contribute to stone disease and how they might be therapeutically targeted.

Stage I testicular germ cell tumour is restricted to the testicle and can be mostly cured by orchiectomy; however, many patients experience tumour relapse. In this Review, the authors describe advantages and limitations of the currently available predictive biomarkers of relapse in germ cell tumours, and discuss the need to identify new biomarkers to avoid patient overtreatment.

Premature ejaculation is a male disorder causing distress, bother, frustration and/or avoidance of sexual intimacy. Currently available therapies are not lasting and only mildly effective. In this Review, the authors summarize currently available approved and off-label treatments for premature ejaculation, and comprehensively discuss emerging therapeutic options.

Several studies over the past few decades have suggested that sperm quality varies by geographical region and might be subject to a temporal decline worldwide. However, the data supporting these conclusions have come from studies of various methodologies and heterogeneous populations, making them unreliable. In this in-depth Review, Chevrier and colleagues discuss the data surrounding discussion of spatiotemporal trends in semen parameters and consider how these trends and the factors promoting them interact.