First-line axitinib ‘feasible’ in advanced, metastatic RCC

By Shreeya Nanda, Senior medwireNews Reporter

A Japanese single-institution study suggests that axitinib may be a feasible first-line option for patients with locally advanced or metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

Axitinib treatment resulted in “improved oncological outcomes” and had an “acceptable safety profile”, say the researchers in BMC Urology.

The team reviewed medical records for 18 patients with locally advanced or metastatic RCC who received first-line axitinib for a median duration of 10.8 months, five and nine patients had a partial response and stable disease, respectively, while four progressed.

Median progression-free survival (PFS) was 20.4 months for the overall study cohort, not reached for patients with locally advanced disease and 20.4 months for those with metastatic disease.

The 1-year PFS rate was 84.4% for the overall study population, and 55.6% and 100.0% for the locally advanced and metastatic subgroups, respectively, although the difference between groups was not statistically significant.

Tumour shrinkage was observed in primary tumours in 10 participants and metastatic disease in five patients, with tumours reducing in size by a median of 20%, the team reports.

Proteinuria and hypertension were the most common grade 3 toxicities, observed in 11.1% and 5.6% of patients, respectively. And hypertension was also the most frequent side effect of any grade, occurring in 38.9% of patients overall.

Researcher Chikara Ohyama, from Hirosaki University Graduate School of Medicine, and colleagues conclude that “first-line therapy with axitinib may provide a feasible option for treatment of advanced RCC or [metastatic] RCC patients”, adding that further trials are warranted.

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