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. 2025 Oct 13;25(1):1559.
doi: 10.1186/s12885-025-14962-8.

The association between serum uric acid and survival outcomes in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma treated with targeted therapy

Oktay Halit Aktepe  1 , Faruk Recep Ozalp  2 , Eda Caliskan Yildirim  2 , Mehmet Cihan Icli  3 , Hatice Altas  4 , Canberk Sencan  2 , Ahmet Melih Arslan  2 , Mehmet Sinan Akarca  2 , Huseyin Salih Semiz  2 , Aziz Karaoglu  2 , Mustafa Erman  3 , Suayib Yalcin  3
Affiliations

The association between serum uric acid and survival outcomes in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma treated with targeted therapy

Oktay Halit Aktepe et al. BMC Cancer. .

Abstract

Purpose: Serum uric acid (SUA), the end product of purine metabolism, may play a crucial role in the biology of several cancers, including renal cell carcinoma (RCC). However, data on the association of SUA with metastatic RCC (mRCC) survival are limited. Thus, we evaluated the prognostic importance of baseline serum uric acid in mRCC patients treated with targeted therapy.

Methods: The SUA level of 5.8 mg/dL was determined as the optimal cut-off point in predicting OS in the receiver operating characteristic curve. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to estimate progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in SUA groups. Cox proportional hazard models were performed to evaluate the association between SUA and survival outcomes.

Results: A total of 290 patients with a median age of 61 were included in the study. The median PFS and OS of all patients were 11.6 months and 45 months, respectively. The low-SUA group had superior PFS and OS times than the high-SUA group (16.2 months vs. 8.8 months, p < 0.001 for PFS; 92 months vs. 24.7 months, p < 0.001 for OS, respectively). The multivariate analysis indicated that high SUA levels remained an independent predictor of both PFS and OS after controlling for multiple confounders, including the International Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma Database Consortium (IMDC) risk scoring system (HR:1.79, 95%CI 1.35-2.37, p < 0.001 for PFS; HR: 3.32, 95%CI 2.33-4.72, p < 0.001 for OS).

Conclusions: Our study highlights a noteworthy association between high SUA levels and adverse survival outcomes in patients with RCC treated with targeted therapies.

Keywords: Metastatic renal cell carcinoma; Prognosis; Targeted therapy; Uric acid.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: This retrospective study involving human participants was reviewed and approved, and the need for informed consent was waived by the Ethic Commission of Dokuz Eylul University (decision no:2025/20–22). All procedures in the present study were performed in accordance with the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
ROC curve analysis determining the optimal cut-off point of SUA in predicting OS
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
The Kaplan-Meier curves estimating PFS (A) and OS (B) times of SUA groups
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
The Kaplan-Meier curves estimating PFS (A) and OS (B) times of SUA groups in patients with clear cell and PFS (C) and OS (D) times in patients with non-clear cell histologies
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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