Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors in Metastatic Clear-cell Renal Cell Carcinoma: Is PD-L1 Expression Useful?

316 Background: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) have demonstrated impressive activity in metastatic clear-cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) and have become standard treatment options in this setting. Data supporting the effectiveness of ICI based therapy in non-clear cell RCC (nccRCC) is more limited. Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis using the International Metastatic RCC Database Consortium (IMDC). Patients with nccRCC were classified into 3 groups based on first-line therapy: ICI based therapy (in monotherapy or in combination), vascular endothelial growth factor targeted therapy (VEGF-TT) monotherapy, or mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitor monotherapy. Primary outcome was overall survival (OS). Secondary outcomes were time to treatment failure (TTF) and objective response rate (ORR). We used Kaplan-Meier method to compare OS and TTF between treatment groups and Cox proportional hazards models to adjust for prognostic covariates. Results: We identified 1181 patients with nccRCC. In first-line, 78.2% received VEGF-TT, 15.8% mTOR inhibitors, and 5.5% ICI based therapy, of which 41.5% in monotherapy, 30.8% doublet-ICIs and 27.7% an ICI combined with VEGF-TT. Median OS in the ICI group was 28.6 months, compared to 19.2 and 12.6 in the VEGF-TT and mTOR groups, respectively. Median TTF was 6.9 months vs. 5.1 and 3.9 and ORR was 25% vs. 17.8% and 5.8% in the ICI, VEGF-TT and mTOR groups, respectively. After adjusting for IMDC risk group, histological subtype, and age, the hazard ratio (HR) for OS was 0.58 (95% CI 0.35-0.94, p=0.03) for ICI vs. VEGF-TT and 0.48 (95% CI 0.29-0.80, p=0.005) for ICI vs. mTOR. Conclusions: In advanced nccRCC, first-line ICI based treatment appears to be associated with improved OS compared to VEGF and mTOR targeted therapy. These results need to be confirmed in prospective randomized trials. [Table: see text]

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Outcome with immune checkpoint inhibitors in metastatic renal cell carcinoma across different treatment lines.

Journal of Clinical Oncology ◽

10.1200/jco.2020.38.6_suppl.651 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 38 (6_suppl) ◽

pp. 651-651

Author(s):

Andreas Bruchbacher ◽

Johannes Franke ◽

Zumreta Alic ◽

Sebastian Nachbargauer ◽

Harun Fajkovic ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Renal Cell Carcinoma ◽

Cell Carcinoma ◽

Immune Checkpoint ◽

Renal Cell ◽

Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽

Clear Cell ◽

Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽

First Line ◽

Entire Cohort ◽

Treatment Line

651 Background: The introduction of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICPI) has led to a paradigm change in the management of metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma (mRCC). Prospective trials focused on ICPI treatment in first- or second-line. The aim of this analysis was to evaluate the benefit of ICPI across different treatment lines. Methods: This is a single center retrospective study from the Medical University of Vienna which included all mRCC patients who received ICPIs in various treatment lines. Overall response rates (ORR), progression free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were evaluated for the entire cohort and by treatment line. Results: Between January 2014 and October 2019, a total of 113 patients received ICPIs. Ninety-four patients were eligible for full evaluation (83% clear cell and 17% non-clear cell). 26.8%, 61.6% and 14.8% were classified good, intermediate and poor IMDC-risk, respectively. 59%, 20% and 21% were treated with ICPI monotherapy, dual ICPI therapy and ICPI + tyrosine kinase inhibitor, respectively. ORR, median PFS and median OS for the entire cohort was 39.4%, 9.67 months (95%CI: 6.9-12.4 months) and 23.6 months (95%CI: 13.3-33.9 months), respectively. The ORR by treatment line was: 33% in first-line (9 patients), 40.4%, in second- (42 patients), 35% in third- (20 patients) and 43.5% in fourth and beyond-fourth-line (23 patients). The median PFS by treatment line was: 8.6 months, 10.3 months, 7.9 months and 7.23 months, respectively. The median OS was not reached (NR) in first-line and 26.2 months, 18.1 months and 20.7 months in second-, third-, and fourth and beyond- ICPI treatment line, respectively. The global OS for the whole patient cohort calculated from diagnosis of metastasis was 80 months (CL 95%: 50.5 – 109.5 months). Conclusions: ICPIs are active in all treatment lines and should also be offered in heavily pre-treated patients, who have not had access in earlier treatment lines.

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Tumor Microenvironment Features as Predictive Biomarkers of Response to Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors (ICI) in Metastatic Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma (mccRCC)

Cancers ◽

10.3390/cancers13020231 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (2) ◽

pp. 231

Author(s):

Audrey Simonaggio ◽

Nicolas Epaillard ◽

Cédric Pobel ◽

Marco Moreira ◽

Stéphane Oudard ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Renal Cell Carcinoma ◽

Tumor Microenvironment ◽

Cell Carcinoma ◽

Renal Cell ◽

Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽

Clear Cell ◽

Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽

Predictive Biomarkers ◽

Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma ◽

Genomic Signatures

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the seventh most frequently diagnosed malignancy with an increasing incidence in developed countries. Despite a greater understanding of the cancer biology, which has led to an increase of therapeutic options, metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma (mccRCC) still have a poor prognosis with a median five-years survival rate lower than 10%. The standard of care for mccRCC has changed dramatically over the past decades with the emergence of new treatments: anti-VEGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors, mTOR Inhibitors and immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) such as anti-Programmed cell-Death 1 (PD-1) and anti-anti-Programmed Death Ligand-1 (PD-L1) used as monotherapy or as a combination with anti CTLA-4 or anti angiogenic therapies. In the face of these rising therapeutic options, the question of the therapeutic sequences is crucial. Predictive biomarkers are urgently required to provide a personalized treatment for each patient. Disappointingly, the usual ICI biomarkers, PD-L1 expression and Tumor Mutational Burden, approved in melanoma or non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have failed to distinguish good and poor mccRCC responders to ICI. The tumor microenvironment is known to be involved in ICI response. Innovative technologies can be used to explore the immune contexture of tumors and to find predictive and prognostic biomarkers. Recent comprehensive molecular characterization of RCC has led to the development of robust genomic signatures, which could be used as predictive biomarkers. This review will provide an overview of the components of the RCC tumor microenvironment and discuss their role in disease progression and resistance to ICI. We will then highlight the current and future ICI predictive biomarkers assessed in mccRCC with a major focus on immunohistochemistry markers and genomic signatures.

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Molecular Mechanisms of Resistance to Immunotherapy and Antiangiogenic Treatments in Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma

Cancers ◽

10.3390/cancers13235981 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (23) ◽

pp. 5981

Author(s):

Pablo Álvarez Ballesteros ◽

Jesús Chamorro ◽

María San Román-Gil ◽

Javier Pozas ◽

Victoria Gómez Dos Santos ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Renal Cell Carcinoma ◽

Cell Carcinoma ◽

Immune Checkpoint ◽

Renal Cell ◽

Molecular Mechanisms ◽

Kinase Inhibitors ◽

Clear Cell ◽

Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽

Resistance Mechanisms ◽

Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma

Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is the most common histological subtype arising from renal cell carcinomas. This tumor is characterized by a predominant angiogenic and immunogenic microenvironment that interplay with stromal, immune cells, and tumoral cells. Despite the obscure prognosis traditionally related to this entity, strategies including angiogenesis inhibition with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), as well as the enhancement of the immune system with the inhibition of immune checkpoint proteins, such as PD-1/PDL-1 and CTLA-4, have revolutionized the treatment landscape. This approach has achieved a substantial improvement in life expectancy and quality of life from patients with advanced ccRCC. Unfortunately, not all patients benefit from this success as most patients will finally progress to these therapies and, even worse, approximately 5 to 30% of patients will primarily progress. In the last few years, preclinical and clinical research have been conducted to decode the biological basis underlying the resistance mechanisms regarding angiogenic and immune-based therapy. In this review, we summarize the insights of these molecular alterations to understand the resistance pathways related to the treatment with TKI and immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). Moreover, we include additional information on novel approaches that are currently under research to overcome these resistance alterations in preclinical studies and early phase clinical trials.

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Immune Checkpoint Inhibition in Advanced Non-Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma: Leveraging Success from Clear Cell Histology into New Opportunities

Cancers ◽

10.3390/cancers13153652 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (15) ◽

pp. 3652

Author(s):

Kevin Zarrabi ◽

Emily Walzer ◽

Matthew Zibelman

Keyword(s):

Renal Cell Carcinoma ◽

Cell Carcinoma ◽

Targeted Therapies ◽

Immune Checkpoint ◽

Renal Cell ◽

Clear Cell ◽

Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽

Rapid Development ◽

Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma ◽

Clear Cell Rcc

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is a histologically heterogeneous disease with multiple subtypes. Clear cell RCC (ccRCC) represents the most common histology and has thus been easiest to study in clinical trials. Non-clear cell RCC (nccRCC) represents about 25% of RCC tumors, with fewer treatment options available, compared to ccRCC, and with poorer outcomes. Non-clear cell RCC tumors are histologically diverse, with each subtype having distinct molecular and clinical characteristics. Our understanding of nccRCC is evolving, with a gradual shift from treating nccRCC as a single entity to approaching each subtype as its own disease with unique features. Due to the scarcity of patients for study development, trials have predominantly combined all nccRCC subtypes and re-purposed drugs already approved for ccRCC, despite the decreased efficacy. We are now in the early stages of a potential paradigm shift in the treatment of nccRCC, with a rapid development of clinical studies with a focus on this subset of tumors. Investigators have launched trials focused on the molecular drivers of tumorigenesis using targeted therapies. Harboring the immunogenicity of some nccRCC subtypes, and based on promising retrospective studies, clinicians have also devised multiple trials using immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), both alone or in combination with targeted therapies, for nccRCC subtypes. We highlight the promising completed and ongoing studies employing ICIs that will likely continue to improve outcomes in patients with nccRCC and propose future potential immunotherapeutic avenues.

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The Role of Epigenetics in the Progression of Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma and the Basis for Future Epigenetic Treatments

Cancers ◽

10.3390/cancers13092071 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (9) ◽

pp. 2071

Author(s):

Javier C. Angulo ◽

Claudia Manini ◽

Jose I. López ◽

Angel Pueyo ◽

Begoña Colás ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Renal Cell Carcinoma ◽

Cell Carcinoma ◽

Immune Checkpoint ◽

Renal Cell ◽

Clear Cell ◽

Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽

Early Stage ◽

Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma ◽

Epigenetic Biomarkers ◽

Therapeutic Decisions

Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is curable when diagnosed at an early stage, but when disease is non-confined it is the urologic cancer with worst prognosis. Antiangiogenic treatment and immune checkpoint inhibition therapy constitute a very promising combined therapy for advanced and metastatic disease. Many exploratory studies have identified epigenetic markers based on DNA methylation, histone modification, and ncRNA expression that epigenetically regulate gene expression in ccRCC. Additionally, epigenetic modifiers genes have been proposed as promising biomarkers for ccRCC. We review and discuss the current understanding of how epigenetic changes determine the main molecular pathways of ccRCC initiation and progression, and also its clinical implications. Despite the extensive research performed, candidate epigenetic biomarkers are not used in clinical practice for several reasons. However, the accumulated body of evidence of developing epigenetically-based biomarkers will likely allow the identification of ccRCC at a higher risk of progression. That will facilitate the establishment of firmer therapeutic decisions in a changing landscape and also monitor active surveillance in the aging population. What is more, a better knowledge of the activities of chromatin modifiers may serve to develop new therapeutic opportunities. Interesting clinical trials on epigenetic treatments for ccRCC associated with well established antiangiogenic treatments and immune checkpoint inhibitors are revisited.

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Determinants of resistance to VEGF-TKI and immune checkpoint inhibitors in metastatic renal cell carcinoma

Journal of Experimental & Clinical Cancer Research ◽

10.1186/s13046-021-01961-3 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 40 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Revati Sharma ◽

Elif Kadife ◽

Mark Myers ◽

George Kannourakis ◽

Prashanth Prithviraj ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Renal Cell Carcinoma ◽

Cell Carcinoma ◽

Immune Checkpoint ◽

Renal Cell ◽

Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽

Kinase Inhibitors ◽

Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽

Resistance Mechanisms ◽

Number Of Patients ◽

Angiogenesis Pathway

AbstractVascular endothelial growth factor tyrosine kinase inhibitors (VEGF-TKIs) have been the mainstay of treatment for patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Despite its early promising results in decreasing or delaying the progression of RCC in patients, VEGF-TKIs have provided modest benefits in terms of disease-free progression, as 70% of the patients who initially respond to the treatment later develop drug resistance, with 30% of the patients innately resistant to VEGF-TKIs. In the past decade, several molecular and genetic mechanisms of VEGF-TKI resistance have been reported. One of the mechanisms of VEGF-TKIs is inhibition of the classical angiogenesis pathway. However, recent studies have shown the restoration of an alternative angiogenesis pathway in modulating resistance. Further, in the last 5 years, immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have revolutionized RCC treatment. Although some patients exhibit potent responses, a non-negligible number of patients are innately resistant or develop resistance within a few months to ICI therapy. Hence, an understanding of the mechanisms of VEGF-TKI and ICI resistance will help in formulating useful knowledge about developing effective treatment strategies for patients with advanced RCC. In this article, we review recent findings on the emerging understanding of RCC pathology, VEGF-TKI and ICI resistance mechanisms, and potential avenues to overcome these resistance mechanisms through rationally designed combination therapies.

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