Targeted Therapy for Renal Cell Carcinoma

Our study aims to evaluate the use of targeted therapy in metastatic renal cell carcinoma Methods: This is a prospective study done over three years from December 2010 to December, 2013.Out of Forty seven patients of metastatic renal cell carcinoma 8(neo-adjuvant cases) were excluded and 39 were included in this study. All patients received Tyrosine kinase inhibitor, sunitinib therapy (50 mg OD, 4/2 scheme). All 39 patients underwent radical nephrectomy prior to sunitinib therapy. Patients were followed up every cycle for their clinical symptoms following sunitinib therapy and every 3 months with chest X-ray, ultra-sonography and bone scan. CT scan was done if needed. A RECIST criterion was used to evaluate the complete, partial and no tumor response.

The median survival was 28.5 months (CI 9.253-47.7) and progression free survival (PFS) was 9.16 months(CI 6.08-12.23).According to RECIST, stable disease was found in 6 patients till date and a complete response in two patients. Clear cell histology was found in 30(76.9%) patients, papillary variety in 6(15.39%) patients, chromophobe type was seen in one patient and rest had mixed sarcomatoid papillary and rhabdoid clear cell variety. Twenty four patients (61.5%) had multiple metastases. Most frequent metastasis was seen in lungs in 14 patients (36%) and bone in 12 patients (31%).Metastases were also seen in draining lymph nodes, adrenals, omentum,skin, liver, and brain.

In our cohort, use of sunitinib showed similar outcome to previously published articles. Our study supports the use of sunitinib in metastatic renal cell carcinoma.