scholarly journals Acute interstitial nephritis, a potential predictor of response to immune checkpoint inhibitors in renal cell carcinoma

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. e001198
Author(s):  
Viral Patel ◽  
Roy Elias ◽  
Joseph Formella ◽  
William Schwartzman ◽  
Alana Christie ◽  
...  

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) such as nivolumab and ipilimumab have improved outcomes in metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) patients, but they are also associated with immune-related adverse events (irAEs). As observed in melanoma, we hypothesized that patients experiencing an autoimmune reaction directed against the tissue of origin may be more likely to benefit from ICI. Specifically, we asked whether patients with immune-related acute interstitial nephritis (irAIN) exhibited improved outcomes. Using Kidney Cancer Explorer (KCE), a data portal and i2b2-based central database for clinical, pathological and experimental genetic data, we systematically identified all patients with mRCC at UT Southwestern Medical Center (UTSW) from 2014–2018 who received at least one dose of ICI. More recent cases were identified through a provider query. We extracted creatinine (Cr) values at baseline and over the entirety of each patient ICI treatment course using KCE. Patients with ≥ 1.5-fold Cr increase over baseline were investigated. The likelihood of irAIN was determined based on the work-up (biopsy, if available), or by clinical criteria (timing of kidney injury, exclusion of other etiologies, treatment with immunosuppressants and response). We identified 177 mRCC patients who received at least one dose of ICI, 36 of whom had ≥ 1.5-fold increase in Cr over baseline while on treatment. Of those, two had biopsy-proven irAIN and one was clinically diagnosed, resulting in an incidence of 1.7%. One additional biopsy-proven case past 2018 was identified through a provider query, for a total of four patients. Two received combination nivolumab and ipilimumab in the first line, whereas the remaining received nivolumab after first line therapy. irAIN onset ranged from 1.5 to 12 months. All four patients stopped ICI with recovery of renal function, at least partially, three after receiving systemic steroids. Notably, all four patients had a deep response. In conclusion, irAIN is a rare event, but it may portend a higher likelihood of response. One possible explanation is antigenic overlap between normal renal tubular cells and tumor cells.

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (6_suppl) ◽  
pp. 651-651
Author(s):  
Andreas Bruchbacher ◽  
Johannes Franke ◽  
Zumreta Alic ◽  
Sebastian Nachbargauer ◽  
Harun Fajkovic ◽  
...  

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.


2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (6_suppl) ◽  
pp. 316-316
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Graham ◽  
Connor Wells ◽  
Shaan Dudani ◽  
Chun Loo Gan ◽  
Frede Donskov ◽  
...  

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]


Author(s):  
Revati Sharma ◽  
Elif Kadife ◽  
Mark Myers ◽  
George Kannourakis ◽  
Prashanth Prithviraj ◽  
...  

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.


2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. 4583-4583
Author(s):  
Chris Labaki ◽  
Sarah Abou Alaiwi ◽  
Andrew Lachlan Schmidt ◽  
Talal El Zarif ◽  
Ziad Bakouny ◽  
...  

4583 Background: The use of High-Dose Corticosteroids (HDC) has been linked to poor outcomes in patients with lung cancer treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) (Ricciuti B, JCO, 2019). There is no data on the effect of HDC on renal cell carcinoma patients (RCC) treated with immunotherapy. We hypothesized that HDC use would be associated with worse outcomes in RCC patients receiving ICIs. Methods: This study evaluated a retrospective cohort of patients with RCC at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, MA. Clinical information including demographics, IMDC risk score, RCC histology, steroid administration, ICI regimen, line of therapy, time to treatment failure (TTF) and overall survival (OS) were collected. Patients were divided into those receiving HDC (prednisone ≥10 mg or equivalent for ≥ 1 week, HDC group) or not receiving HDC (No-HDC group). HDC administration was evaluated in relation to TTF and OS in a univariate analysis (Log-rank test) and a multivariate analysis (Cox regression). Results: 190 patients with RCC receiving ICIs were included, with a median age of 59 years. HDC were administered to 56 patients and 134 patients received no (N= 116) or only low-dose (N=18) steroids. In the HDC group, 40 patients received steroids for immune-related adverse events, 8 for other cancer-related indications, and 8 for non-oncological indications. There was no difference in TTF between the HDC and No-HDC groups (12-mo TTF rate: 34.8 vs. 32.3%, respectively; log-rank p=0.65). Similarly, there was no difference in OS between the HDC and No-HDC groups (36-mo OS rate: 56.7 vs. 62.4%, respectively; log-rank p=0.97). After adjusting for IMDC risk group, RCC histology, ICI regimen type, and line of therapy, TTF and OS did not differ in the HDC group as compared to No-HDC group (HR=1.14 [95%CI: 0.80-1.62], p=0.44 and HR=1.17 [95%CI: 0.65-2.11], p=0.59, respectively). Conclusions: In this retrospective study of patients with RCC treated with ICIs, administration of high-dose corticosteroids was not associated with worse outcomes.[Table: see text]


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