Circulating mir-21 and mir-378 are predictive of progression-free survival (PFS) in patients treated with everolimus in metastatic renal cell cancer (mRCC).
4617 Background: The oral mTOR inhibitor, everolimus, affects tumor growth by targeting cellular metabolic proliferation pathways and modestly delays RCC progression. We hypothesized that circulating microRNAs, which have been associated with renal cancer and inflammation, may serve as predictive biomarkers to help better define a population more sensitive to treatment. Methods: Plasma from mRCC pts refractory to VEGF inhibition were obtained prior to treatment with standard dose everolimus as part of a clinical trial examining FDG-PET as a potential predictive biomarker. As we were specifically interested in tumor response to drug, only pts who died, remained on trial, or had radiographic progression by RECIST criteria were profiled. Pts who were unable to tolerate drug were excluded. MicroRNAs were extracted and profiled without pre-amplification using Exiqon LNA PCR panels. Crossing point (Cp) values within 5 of the negative control were removed. MicroRNAs must have been present in >90% of samples and varied at least p > 0.10 from mean to be further analyzed. Cox-proportional hazards model and Kaplan-Meier analyses were performed. Results: 28 patients had available plasma and met criteria for profiling. Pt characteristics included: 20 (71%) clear cell histology, median age 57.7 (43 – 76), median number of prior systemic therapies 2 (1 – 3). 103 microRNAs were expressed in at least 90% of all samples. Mir-21 and mir-378 were independently correlated with PFS (FDR: 0.02 and 0.06, respectively). Low circulating plasma mir-21 and mir-378 levels resulted in a median PFS prolongation of 370d vs. 101d (p=0.027) and 368d vs. 106d (p=0.001). Analysis of the clear cell cohort for mir-21 and mir-378 also demonstrated a significant median PFS difference of 350d vs. 173d (p=0.045) and 345d vs. 147d (p=0.004). Conclusions: Elevated levels of circulating mir-21 and mir-378 have been associated with systemic inflammatory states, and in our study are correlated with decreased PFS in mRCC pts undergoing everolimus therapy. Further prospective studies will be required to validate these exploratory results for their potential role as prognostic or predictive biomarkers.