Brain natriuretic peptide precursor (NT-pro-BNP) levels predict for clinical benefit to sunitinib treatment in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Sunitinib is an oral, multitargeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor that has been approved for the treatment of metastatic renal cell carcinoma. Although the majority of sunitinib-treated patients receive a clinical benefit, almost a third of the patients will not respond. Currently there is no available marker that can predict for response in these patients.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We estimated the plasma levels of NT-pro-BNP (the N-terminal precursor of brain natriuretic peptide) in 36 patients that were treated with sunitinib for metastatic clear-cell renal carcinoma.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>From the 36 patients, 9 had progressive disease and 27 obtained a clinical benefit (objective response or disease stabilization). Increases in plasma NT-pro-BNP were strongly correlated to clinical outcome. Patients with disease progression increased plasma BNP at statistically significant higher levels than patients that obtained a clinical benefit, and this was evident from the first 15 days of treatment (a three-fold increase in patients with progressive disease compared to stable NT-pro-BNP levels in patients with clinical benefit, p < 0.0001). Median progression-free survival was 12.0 months in patients with less than 1.5 fold increases (n = 22) and 3.9 months in patients with more than 1.5 fold increases in plasma NT-pro-BNP (n = 13) (log-rank test, p = 0.001).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This is the first time that a potential "surrogate marker" has been reported with such a clear correlation to clinical benefit at an early time of treatment. Due to the relative small number of accessed patients, this observation needs to be further addressed on larger cohorts. More analyses, including multivariate analyses are needed before such an observation can be used in clinical practice.</p

Soluble Isoforms of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Are Predictors of Response to Sunitinib in Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinomas

Angiogenesis is the target of several agents in the treatment of malignancies, including renal cell carcinoma (RCC). There is a real need for surrogate biomarkers that can predict selection of patients who may benefit from antiangiogenic therapies, prediction of disease outcome and which may improve the knowledge regarding mechanism of action of these treatments. Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) have proven efficacy in metastatic RCC (mRCC). However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the clinical response to these drugs remain unclear.The present study aimed to identify molecular biomarkers associated with the response to sunitinib, a Tyrosine kinase inhibitor. To evaluate this relationship, primary tumors from 23 metastatic RCC patients treated by sunitinib were analyzed for a panel of 16 biomarkers involved in tumor pathways targeted by sunitinib, using real-time quantitative reverse-transcriptase PCR. Nine of the 23 patients (39%) responded to sunitinib. Among transcripts analyzed, only the levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) soluble isoforms (VEGF(121) and VEGF(165)) were associated with the response to sunitinib (P = 0.04 for both). Furthermore, the ratio of VEGF soluble isoforms (VEGF(121)/VEGF(165)) was significantly associated with prognosis (P = 0.02).This preliminary study provides a promising tool that might help in the management of metastatic RCC, and could be extended to other tumors treated by TKI

Expression of multidrug resistance markers ABCB1 (MDR-1/P-gp) and ABCC1 (MRP-1) in renal cell carcinoma

Background: Renal cancer patients respond poorly to conventional chemotherapy, this unresponsiveness may be attributable to multidrug resistance (MDR). The mechanisms of MDR in renal cancer are not fully understood and the specific contribution of ABC transporter proteins which have been implicated in the chemoresistance of various cancers has not been fully defined in this disease. Methods: The aim of this prospective study was to analyse by immunohistochemistry the expression of two of these transporter efflux pumps, namely MDR-1/P-gp (ABCB1) and MRP-1 (ABCC1) in archival material from 113 renal carcinoma patients. Results: In the largest study of its kind, results presented here show 100% of cases stained positively for P-gp and MRP-1 protein expression. Conclusion: However, although these findings do not prove a causal role, the high frequency of tumours expressing these efflux pumps suggests that they may be important contributors to the chemoresistance of this tumour type

Sunitinib and other targeted therapies for renal cell carcinoma

Targeted therapy has radically altered the way metastatic renal cancer is treated. Six drugs are now licensed in this setting, with several other agents under evaluation. Sunitinib is currently the most widely used in the first line setting with impressive efficacy and an established toxicity profile. However, as further randomised studies report and as newer drugs become available this may change. In this review, we address our current understanding of targeted therapy in renal cancer. We also discuss areas in which our knowledge is incomplete, including the identification of correlative biomarkers and mechanisms of drug resistance. Finally, we will describe the major areas of clinical research that will report over the next few years