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Leukopenia as a biomarker of sunitinib outcome in advanced renal cell carcinoma
Tetsuo Fujita1, Yoji Wakatabe2, Kazumasa Matsumoto2
1Department of Urology, Kitasato University School of Medicine, Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan tfujita@cd5.so-net.ne.jp.
Background:
Sunitinib is known to cause a variety of adverse events. The aim of the present study was to investigate the prognostic significance of leukopenia for patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) treated with sunitinib.
Patients And Methods:
Between December 2008 and January 2012, 44 consecutive patients with advanced RCC were treated with sunitinib. Adverse events that occurred during the study were identified. Cox proportional hazards regression analysis estimated the relative importance of the predictive factors for progression-free survival (PFS).
Results:
On multivariate analysis, leukopenia was a significant predictor of PFS (p=0.0185). The cohort with leukopenia comprised of 36 patients (81.8%) and the cohort without leukopenia of 8 patients (18.2%). Patients with leukopenia had a significantly higher response rate (p=0.0062) and significantly longer PFS (p<0.0001) compared to patients without leukopenia.
Conclusion:
Leukopenia is an independent, significant prognostic indicator for patients with advanced RCC treated with sunitinib.
