The role of sunitinib in the therapy of metastatic renal cell carcinoma

Abstract

The standards of treatment for metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) have changed significantly from unsuccessful attempts of radiation and cytostatic therapy to the encouraging results of targeted therapy and specific immunotherapy. Sunitinib has got into the practice in 2006, and now it`s one of the most studied and approved. Sunitinib is one of the first oral targeted drugs for RCC. It affects such receptors as VEGFR1, 2, 3; PDGFR, FGFR, c-KIT, and RET, which take part in the pathologic angiogenesis, tumor growth, and metastasizing. Moreover, sunitinib stimulates the growth and development of lymphatic vessels, that deliver immunocytes to the tumor. The advantage of sunitinib over non-specific immunotherapy has been proven by Motzer et al. The randomized trials COMPARZ, RECORD-3, and SWITCH have confirmed that sunitinib is more effective than several targeted drugs (pazopanib, everolimus, and sorafenib respectively) as the first line of treatment for mRCC. The randomized trial of the 3rd phase CARMENA has demonstrated the importance of sunitinib monotherapy for mRCC of intermediate and poor prognosis. In general, sunitinib has been proven to be an effective first-line drug for mRCC, as it`s evidenced in the comprehensive metaanalysis of real-world data and randomized controlled trials published between 2000 and 2017. Nowadays, despite the success of the immunotherapeutic direction, tyrosine kinase inhibitors, and particularly sunitinib, rightfully remain the standard for mRCC of favourable prognosis, the treatment option for worse prognosis in case of contraindications for other methods of therapy, and it` s also used in subsequent therapy lines.

Keywords

• targeted therapy
• angiogenesis inhibitors
• tyrosine kinase inhibitors
• immunotherapy
• metastatic renal cell carcinoma