Outcomes of Patients with Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma Treated with Targeted Therapy After Immuno-oncology Checkpoint Inhibitors.

Immuno-oncology (IO) therapies have changed the treatment standards of metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC). However, the effectiveness of targeted therapy following discontinuation of IO therapy in real-world settings has not been well studied.

To describe treatment sequence and assess clinical effectiveness of targeted therapy for mRCC patients who received prior IO therapy.

A retrospective, longitudinal cohort study using data from eight international cancer centers was conducted. Patients with mRCC were ≥18yr old, received IO therapy in any line, and initiated targeted therapy following IO therapy discontinuation.

Patients were treated with vascular endothelial growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors (VEGFR-TKIs) or mammalian target of rapamycin inhibitors (mTORIs).

Outcomes were time to treatment discontinuation (TTD), overall survival (OS), and objective response rate (ORR). Crude and adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using Cox proportional hazard models. Models were adjusted for age, sex, therapy line, and International Metastatic RCC Database Consortium risk group.

Among 314 patients, 276 (87.9%) and 38 (12.1%) were treated with VEGFR-TKI and mTORI therapy, respectively. The most common tyrosine kinase inhibitor treatments were axitinib, cabozantinib, and sunitinib following IO therapy. In adjusted models, patients treated with VEGFR-TKI versus mTORI therapy had lower hazard of TTD after IO treatment (aHR=0.46; 95% CI: 0.30-0.71; p < 0.01). One-year OS probability (65% vs 47%, p < 0.01) and proportion of ORR (29.8% vs 3.6%, p < 0.01) were significantly greater for patients treated with VEGFR-TKIs versus those treated with mTORIs.

Targeted therapy has clinical activity following IO treatment. Patients who received VEGFR-TKIs versus mTORIs following IO therapy had improved clinical outcomes. These findings may help inform treatment guidelines and clinical practice for patients post-IO therapy.

Patients may continue to experience clinical benefits from targeted therapies after progression on immuno-oncology treatment.

European urology oncology. 2019 Nov 27 [Epub ahead of print]

Jeffrey Graham, Amishi Y Shah, J Connor Wells, Rana R McKay, Ulka Vaishampayan, Aaron Hansen, Frede Donskov, Georg A Bjarnason, Benoit Beuselinck, Guillermo De Velasco, Marco Iafolla, Mei S Duh, Lynn Huynh, Rose Chang, Giovanni Zanotti, Krishnan Ramaswamy, Toni K Choueiri, Nizar M Tannir, Daniel Y C Heng

CancerCare Manitoba, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada., MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA., University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada., University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA., Karmanos Cancer Institute, Detroit, MI, USA., Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto, Canada., Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark., Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Canada., University Hospital Leuven, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium., University Hospital 12 de Octubre, Madrid, Spain., Analysis Group, Inc., Boston, MA, USA., Pfizer, Inc., New York, NY, USA., Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA., MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA. Electronic address: ., University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada. Electronic address: .