Kidney Cancer

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the angiogenesis blocker axitinib (Inlyta), a twice daily oral drug, as a second-line treatment for patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma.

Researchers have identified a novel rare, germline mutation linked to a predisposition for both melanoma and renal cell carcinoma (RCC) that results in a five-fold increased risk of developing melanoma, RCC, or both.

Scientists at Jennerex, Inc. in San Francisco, and collaborators from University of Pennsylvania and the University of Ottawa in Canada have just engineered a poxvirus, JX-594, to selectively replicate in tumor cells that have an activated EGFR/ Ras pathway, but not in normal tissue.

The patient is a 43-year-old man who was initially evaluated at an outside institution for unexplained anemia and who was found to have a large right kidney mass. He underwent a radical nephrectomy for a 19-cm large-cell, poorly differentiated neoplasm, consistent with pleomorphic, epithelioid angiomyolipoma (EAML) with extensive necrosis and cytologic atypia.

The authors present an interesting case of a very rare renal neoplasm, malignant epithelioid angiomyolipoma (AML), which belongs to a family of mesenchymal tumors known as perivascular epithelioid tumors (PEComas).

A retrospective study of metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) patients published in the journal Cancer found that patients treated with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) had better overall survival and less-frequent metastasis to the brain.

Following a retrospective analysis which may be the largest of its kind to date, a multicenter team of investigators says treatment-related hypertension may be a useful biomarker of superior clinical outcome with sunitinib (Sutent) in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

My 2002 article provided an overview of the various interleukin-2 (IL-2)–based treatment regimens that had been explored over the preceding two decades

In 2010, we have the clinical opportunity to choose among several “targeted” agents when treating patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

Newly developed targeted agents in the management of advanced renal cell carcinoma have given us treatment options in this disease not imagined a decade ago.

Listen to internationally regarded oncologist and clinical investigator, Robert J. Motzer, MD, attending physician at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, discuss the past, present, and future trends in renal cell carcinoma.

In this exclusive ASCO podcast, Andrew J. Armstrong, MD, ScM, Assistant Professor of Medicine and Surgery Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center, Departments of Medicine and Surgery, Divisions of Medical Oncology and Urology, addressed the vexing clinical issue of chemotherapy’s limited effectiveness in advanced renal cell carcinoma.

Expert Perspectives: Key opinion leaders in gastrointestinal cancers, renal cell carcinoma and hematological malignancies cover the best sessions and abstracts of this year’s ASCO meeting…podcasts, interviews, on-site coverage.

Patients who undergo resection of all metastatic kidney lesions, especially of disease that has spread to the lungs, appear to have outcomes as good as patients who have only a single surgery.

Approved Drugs: Pazopanib (Votrient) Indications

The patient is a 26-year-old woman with a complex oncologic history. At 1 year of age, she was diagnosed with a stage III abdominal neuroblastoma, which was treated, and again at age 9, she had a recurrence of neuroblastoma in the left axilla. She was in her usual state of good health until 18 months ago, when she presented with hematuria and was found to have a right-sided kidney mass.

Using renal mass biopsy to guide treatment decisions for small tumors is cost-effective relative to direct surgery, and can spare many patients unnecessary surgical procedures, according to Massachusetts General Hospital researchers.

Renal cell carcinoma represents 3% of all cancer cases but has a significant death rate associated with it: It’s estimated that there will be 60,000 new cases this year and 16,000 deaths from kidney cancer. The risk factors associated with kidney cancer include smoking, obesity, hypertension, and some occupational exposure.

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology for Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphomas (NHL) have been updated to include ofatumumab (Arzerra) and romidepsin (Istodax). Ofatumumab was added to the NCCN Guidelines as a treatment option for relapsed/refractory disease in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, with and without a 17p deletion. In addition, the updated guidelines include romidepsin as a systemic treatment option for patients with mycosis fungoides and Szary syndrome.

GlaxoSmithKline has received FDA approval for pazopanib (Votrient) for the treatment of patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma. The FDA’s approval of the angiogenesis inhibitor was based on data from a phase III clinical trial, which demonstrated that pazopanib reduced the risk of tumor progression or death by 54% compared with placebo and regardless of prior treatment.

The US Food and Drug Administration approved GlaxoSmithKline’s pazopanib (Votrient), the sixth drug to be approved for kidney cancer since 2005.

The Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) of the US Food and Drug Administration voted unanimously in support of the approval of GlaxoSmithKline’s pazopanib (Votrient), an investigational oral agent. Specifically, the panel voted that the benefit-to-risk profile is acceptable for patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma.

In July 2009, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted approval for use of the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) inhibitor bevacizumab (Avastin) in combination with interferon alfa for treatment of patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

Avastin (bevacizumab) plus interferon-alfa has been approved for the treatment of metastatic renal cell carcinoma, according to Genentech. Approval was based on phase III data from the AVOREN study, which showed a 67% increase in progression-free survival (10.2 months) compared to those who received interferon-alfa alone (5.4 months; hazard ratio = 0.60).

Genentech announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved bevacizumab (Avastin) plus interferon- alfa for people with metastatic renal cell carcinoma, the most common type of kidney cancer.

Once-daily oral inhibitor of mTOR (mammalian target of rapamycin) for the treatment of patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) after failure of treatment with sunitinib (Sutent) or sorafenib (Nexavar).

Patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma who were treated with sunitinib malate (Sutent) experienced a median overall survival of more than two years, compared with patients who took interferon-alpha, according to Pfizer.

Agennix announced that talactoferrin alfa has been granted Fast Track designation by the FDA for the first-line treatment of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) in combination with sunitinib (Sutent).

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) has added everolimus (Afinitor) to the NCCN Guidelines for Kidney Cancer as a category 1 option for patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma following failure of tyrosine kinase inhibitors such as sunitinib (Sutent) and sorafenib (Nexavar). This recommendation comes on the heels of the recent US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of everolimus.

Afinitor (everolimus) has been approved by the FDA for patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma after failure of treatment with sunitinib (Sutent) or sorafenib (Nexavar).