Renal cancer is the commonest malignancy of the kidney and worldwide, accounts for between 2% and 3% of the total cancer burden. The mainstay of curative treatment remains surgery. There have been significant advances in surgical technique, the most important ones being nephron-sparing surgery and laparoscopic nephrectomy. The medical treatment of advanced renal cell cancer has only improved markedly in the last decade with the development of antiangiogenic tyrosine-kinase inhibitors, inhibitors of mammalian target of rapamycin, and a diminished role for immunotherapy.Tyrosine-kinase inhibitor therapy results in reduction of tumour volume in around three-quarters of patients and doubles progression-free survival, but treatment is not curative. The management of side effects in patients on maintenance tyrosine-kinase inhibitors has improved in the last 3 years, although still presents difficulties which have to be actively considered.The molecular biology of renal cell carcinoma is better understood than for the majority of solid tumours. The commonest form of renal cancer, clear-cell carcinoma of the kidney, is strongly associated with mutations in the von Hippel–Lindau gene and more recently with chromatin-remodelling genes such as PBRM1. These genetic abnormalities lead to a loss of control of angiogenesis and uncontrolled proliferation of tumour cells. There is a very wide spectrum of tumour behaviour from the extremely indolent to the terribly aggressive. It is not currently known what accounts for this disparity in tumour behaviour.A number of outstanding questions are being addressed in scientific and clinical studies such as a clearer understanding of prognostic and predictive molecular biomarkers, the role of adjuvant therapy, the role of surgery in the presence of metastatic disease, how best to use our existing agents, and investigation of novel targets and therapeutic agents, especially novel immunotherapies.
Are tyrosine kinase inhibitors as effective as they are safe in renal cell cancer patients over the age of 65?
