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Welcome
Dear Colleague:
RCC: Current Status and New Therapeutic Directions, the first newsletter in our Emerging Treatment Paradigms in Renal Cell Carcinoma CME initiative, focused on recent advances in the management of RCC, as well as on new recommendations and guidelines and future directions in research.
This cancer is not a single disease. A number of different tumor types can arise from the renal epithelium, and each results from a distinct genetic abnormality. Each of these RCC subtypes involves a distinct molecular pathway, strongly influencing responses to different therapies.1
Many approaches to the treatment of advanced RCC have been investigated, but those used most often and for which we have the greatest information are interferon-α (IFN-α) and interleukin-2 (IL-2). IL-2 is associated with high toxicity and is used much less often than IFN-α, while IFN-α is better tolerated than IL-2 but provides responses in only about a quarter or fewer patients.2
Increased understanding of the molecular pathways underlying RCC has resulted in the development and clinical testing of a large number of small-molecule–targeted therapies for RCC. These agents include those that interfere with the actions of tyrosine kinase (eg, sorafenib, sunitinib) and those that inhibit the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR; eg, temsirolimus, everolimus).3,4 Bevacizumab, a humanized monoclonal antibody directed against vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), has also demonstrated efficacy in patients with RCC.4
This second activity in the series uses a case-based approach to assist practicing oncologists in incorporating appropriate risk assessment, diagnostic tools, and treatments into their management of patients with RCC.
Sincerely,
Robert J. Motzer, MD, Editor
Department of Medicine
Genitourinary Oncology Service
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
New York, New York
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