Emerging therapeutic approaches in renal cell carcinoma

Abstract

In the past decade, targeted therapy with VEGF and mTOR inhibition has significantly improved the outcome of renal cell carcinoma. However, the management of metastatic renal cell carcinoma still remains challenging as most patients eventually progress on targeted therapy, and long-term survivors are still relatively uncommon. There has recently been a resurgence of interest in cancer immunotherapy with the development of checkpoint inhibitors. Here we discuss the best methods to optimize the current standard of care with targeted therapy, and describe select emerging targeted therapies and immunotherapies with anti programmed death-1 pathway inhibitors in the management of metastatic renal cell carcinoma.

Keywords: anti programmed death-1 therapies; immunotherapy; ipilimumab; nivolumab; renal cell carcinoma; targeted therapy.