Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 Sep 19.
doi: 10.1002/ijc.70165. Online ahead of print.

Real-world comparison of cabozantinib and sunitinib in advanced non-clear cell renal cell carcinoma: A multicenter study by the Turkish Oncology Group

Gökhan Şahin  1 , Esmanur Kaplan Tüzün  2 , Halil G Güzel  3 , Murad Guliyev  4 , Ahmet K Dişli  5 , Melike Yazıcı  6 , Oğuzhan Yıldız  7 , Tuğçe K Güneş  8 , Süleyman Alkan  9 , Emir G Kahraman  10 , Gamze Serin Özel  11 , Mehmet C İçli  12 , Elif Şahin  13 , Harun Muğlu  14 , Caner Acar  1 , Salih Tunbekici  1 , Haydar Ç Yüksel  1 , Hakan Yücel  15 , Burcu Ulaş Kahya  16 , Sait Kitaplı  17 , Mahmut Büyükşimşek  18 , Şüheda A İpek  19 , Pınar E Dama  20 , Ekin Akyıldız Usta  21 , Mesut Yılmaz  22 , Esra Aşık  23 , Faruk R Özalp  20 , Mehmet G Savsar  24 , Erkam Kocaaslan  25 , Saadet Sim  1 , Ahmet B Ağaoğlu  26 , Elif Sertesen Çamöz  27 , Teyfik Demir  28 , Galip C Uyar  29 , Atila Yıldırım  23 , Havva Y Çınkır  15 , Derya Kıvrak Salim  3 , Gamze Gököz Doğu  11 , Özkan Alan  4 , Ertuğrul Bayram  19 , Cengiz Karaçin  27 , Zeynep G Güç  21 , Ferhat Ekinci  26 , Melek Karakurt Eryılmaz  7 , Hüseyin S Semiz  20 , Olçun Ü Ünal  10 , Sema Sezgin Göksu  9 , Banu Öztürk  3 , Mevlüde İnanç  5 , Kazım Uygun  6 , İlhan Hacıbekiroğlu  22 , Vehbi Erçolak  24 , İsmail O Kara  19 , Ozan Yazıcı  16 , Ahmet Bilici  14 , Özgür Tanrıverdi  17 , Burçak Karaca  1 , Mustafa Erman  12 , Erhan Gökmen  1 , Erdem Göker  1 , Hasan Çağrı Yıldırım  30
Affiliations

Real-world comparison of cabozantinib and sunitinib in advanced non-clear cell renal cell carcinoma: A multicenter study by the Turkish Oncology Group

Gökhan Şahin et al. Int J Cancer. .

Abstract

Non-clear cell renal cell carcinoma (nccRCC) comprises a heterogeneous group of malignancies with limited prospective data and no established first-line standard. We conducted a multicenter retrospective study across 29 centers in Turkey, including patients with advanced or metastatic nccRCC treated with first-line cabozantinib or sunitinib between 2015 and 2025. Among 268 patients (sunitinib, n = 198; cabozantinib, n = 70), baseline characteristics were balanced. Cabozantinib was associated with significantly longer median progression-free survival (PFS) compared to sunitinib (9.2 vs. 6.6 months; HR: 0.66; p = .027), while overall survival (OS) was similar (18.6 vs. 17.2 months; p = .566). Objective response rate (ORR) was higher with cabozantinib (38.6% vs. 26.3%; p = .052). Multivariate analyses identified ECOG performance status ≥2, IMDC risk category, sarcomatoid differentiation, and chromophobe histology as independent prognostic factors for OS. Predictors of PFS included IMDC risk, sarcomatoid features, nephrectomy status, and histologic subtype. These findings suggest that cabozantinib may offer improved disease control over sunitinib in this diverse patient population and provide valuable real-world insights for therapeutic decision-making in the absence of prospective randomized data.

Keywords: cabozantinib; non‐clear cell renal cell carcinoma; real‐world data; sunitinib; survival outcomes.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

REFERENCES

    1. Bray F, Laversanne M, Sung H, et al. Global cancer statistics 2022: GLOBOCAN estimates of incidence and mortality worldwide for 36 cancers in 185 countries. CA Cancer J Clin. 2024;74(3):229‐263.
    1. Hsieh JJ, Purdue MP, Signoretti S, et al. Renal cell carcinoma. Nat Rev Dis Primers. 2017;3(1):1‐19.
    1. Lipworth L, Morgans AK, Edwards TL, et al. Renal cell cancer histological subtype distribution differs by race and sex. BJU Int. 2016;117(2):260‐265.
    1. Amin MB, Amin MB, Tamboli P, et al. Prognostic impact of histologic subtyping of adult renal epithelial neoplasms: an experience of 405 cases. Am J Surg Pathol. 2002;26(3):281‐291.
    1. Casuscelli J, Weinhold N, Gundem G, et al. Genomic landscape and evolution of metastatic chromophobe renal cell carcinoma. JCI Insight. 2017;2(12):e92688.

LinkOut - more resources