Kidney Cancer

Newer cancer drugs are being approved on the basis of shorter studies and on outcomes that might not predict living longer or feeling better.

Researchers from X4 Pharmaceuticals in Cambridge, Mass., have been developing novel CXCR4 inhibitor drugs to improve immune cell trafficking and increase the ability for T cells to track and destroy cancer.

The combination of CB-839, a selective inhibitor of glutaminase, and everolimus seems to have disease activity in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma.

This slideshow takes a look at some of the top kidney cancer news of 2016, including FDA approvals, survival disparities, surgical approaches, and more.

Patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma treated with sunitinib often experience treatment-related hypertension and require rigorous blood pressure control.

Metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) patients who use non-aspirin NSAIDs have poorer overall survival than aspirin users and NSAID non-users, according to a new pooled retrospective analysis.

A recent study published in European Urology suggests that patterns of treatment failure might help to predict what the next treatment should be for patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma.

With a number of therapies now available for treatment of renal cell carcinoma, research is now ongoing to determine the best possible sequencing and potential combinations of those therapies.

The use of proton pump inhibitors does not appear to impact the efficacy of oral VEGF tyrosine kinase inhibitors in metastatic renal cell carcinoma, according to a new study.

The use of immune checkpoint inhibitors as adjuvant or neoadjuvant therapy in kidney cancer could offer important new treatment options. Questions remain, though, on the timing and sequence of therapy.

Specific tumor genotypes could represent distinct subtypes of clear cell renal cell carcinoma, according to a new analysis of the RECORD-3 trial. Genotyping could potentially help guide treatment decisions if the results can be validated.

A small study found that patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) who discontinue nivolumab due to immune-related adverse events can continue to derive benefit even after cessation of therapy.

Expression of MET as measured by immunohistochemistry was not associated with any difference in the performance of cabozantinib as compared with everolimus in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma.

The combination of bevacizumab and an investigational nanoparticle-drug conjugate known as CRLX101 failed to improve outcomes in metastatic renal cell carcinoma compared with standard of care.

Active surveillance of small renal masses has been shown in recent years to be a generally safe and reasonable approach, though there are a number of factors for clinicians to keep in mind in taking this path.

Radiotherapy in advanced kidney cancer is generally only used in select metastatic settings, but the use of stereotactic ablative radiotherapy offers promise in a number of indications in this malignancy.

A phase III study of adjuvant girentuximab in patients with high-risk clear cell RCC showed that the drug provided no clinical benefit compared with placebo.

A phase II study of sonepcizumab has failed to meet its primary progression-free survival endpoint in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma.

The addition of the IMA901 vaccine to sunitinib for the first-line treatment of metastatic renal cell carcinoma did not improve overall survival.

Treatment with cabozantinib resulted in significantly improved PFS and overall response vs sunitinib for patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma.

Patients with renal cell carcinoma at high risk for recurrence had prolonged disease-free survival when treated with sunitinib compared with placebo.

Combining two cancer immunotherapies to target both the interleukin 10 (IL-10) and programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) receptors has yielded promising early results for some patients with renal cell carcinoma and non-small cell lung cancer.

The FDA announced a modification to the recommended dosage regimen for nivolumab (Opdivo) for renal cell carcinoma (RCC), metastatic melanoma, and non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Patients with metastatic RCC and a BMI of 25 or greater had significantly longer overall survival compared with patients with a BMI of less than 25, according to the results of a recent study.

Effectively, the field has tested agents for metastatic disease in only two clinical settings: primary management of metastatic disease (first-line) and after progression with a first-line therapy (second-line); however, there are no category 1 data that support the use of any agent in the third-line setting.

The combination of bevacizumab and everolimus had efficacy in patients with unclassified non–clear cell renal cell carcinoma characterized by papillary features, resulting in an objective response rate of 43%.

A new class of agents known as hypoxia-inducible factors-2 inhibitors may be more effective and better tolerated than sunitinib (Sutent), the current standard of care, in patients with renal cell carcinoma.

Patients with RCC who underwent simultaneous nephrectomy and hepatic resection had similar postoperative mortality, long-term survival, and cancer-specific survival as those patients who underwent metastasectomy or en bloc resection of neighboring non-hepatic organs.

Despite treatment advances for renal cell carcinoma, biomarkers are urgently needed for earlier diagnosis and treatment, and quicker assessment of treatment efficacy. Development of such tools has lagged behind biomarker research for more common cancers, and despite encouraging findings from several newly published preclinical studies.

Although the overall incidence of programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) inhibitor-related pneumonitis is rare, the serious adverse event may occur more commonly in certain solid tumor types like non–small-cell lung cancer and renal cell carcinoma.