Evaluation of tumor burden after sequential molecular-targeted therapy in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma

Abstract

Background: To evaluate the effect of tumor burden on survival in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma who are administered sequential molecular-targeted therapy.

Methods: A total of 68 patients were recruited. Baseline tumor burden at the time of second-line therapy initiation was calculated according to the Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors v. 1.1. Patients were divided into two subgroups according to the median tumor burden: greater than the median as the high group, lower than the median as the low group. Progression-free survival and overall survival after second-line therapy were analyzed. The effect of tumor burden changes on survival during sequential targeted therapy were also evaluated.

Results: Median second-line tumor burden was 57.7 cm. The patients with high tumor burden had significantly poorer progression-free survival and overall survival, compared to those with low tumor burden (median progression-free survival = 4.36 vs. 8.19 months, P = 0.0119; overall survival = 9.6 vs. 23.5 months, P = 0.0107). For progression-free survival, multivariate analyses revealed that second-line objective response was an independent predictor (P < 0.0001), but second-line tumor burden was not (P = 0.0826). For overall survival, second-line tumor burden and objective response were independent predictors (P = 0.0300 and <0.0001, respectively). Moreover, there was a positive correlation between first- and second-line tumor burden (r2 = 0.460, P < 0.0001), although tumor burden changes between first- and second-line therapies did not affect survival (median progression-free survival, P = 0.812; overall survival, P = 0.415).

Conclusions: Second-line tumor burden was an independent predictor of overall survival among patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma after second-line therapy.

Keywords: biomarker; metastatic renal cell carcinoma; molecular-targeted therapy; predictor; second-line; tumor burden.