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Renal cell carcinoma—presentation highlights from the ESMO Congress 2021

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Summary

In this short review article we discuss three key oral presentations from the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2021 concerning localised, as well as advanced/metastatic renal cell carcinoma, highlighting their potential implications for the improvement of therapeutic modalities in affected patients. (1) Conditional survival and 5‑year follow-up of CheckMate 214 currently represent the longest available phase III follow-up data in the first-line (combination) treatment of clear cell renal cell carcinoma patients with nivolumab + ipilimumab vs. sunitinib. This analysis demonstrated durable efficacy benefits with the respective combination vs. sunitinib. Moreover, conditional survival results predict an increased probability of durable overall survival, progression-free survival, and response rates with nivolumab + ipilimumab at 2‑ and 3‑year landmarks. (2) The randomised, double-blind, phase III KEYNOTE-564 study, presented as a highlight late-breaking abstract at the ASCO Congress 2021, met its primary endpoint of disease-free survival with post nephrectomy adjuvant pembrolizumab vs. placebo in clear cell renal cell carcinoma patients. At ESMO 2021, the authors presented patient-reported outcomes, whereby no clinically meaningful changes from baseline in health-related quality of life or symptom scores were observed with adjuvant pembrolizumab or placebo. These findings suggest that adjuvant pembrolizumab was tolerable from a patient perspective. (3) A phase II prospective trial of frontline cabozantinib in metastatic collecting ducts carcinoma, namely the BONSAI trial (Meeturo 2), met its primary endpoint objective response rate, showing promising efficacy and acceptable tolerability of cabozantinib in respective patients. Since metastatic collecting ducts carcinoma is biologically poorly characterised and heavily underrepresented in prospective randomised trials, BONSAI gains particular importance.

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Further reading

  1. ClinicalTrials.gov. caBozantinib in cOllectiNg ductS Renal Cell cArcInoma (BONSAI). 2021. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03354884. Accessed 26 Jan 2022

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Acknowledgements

None of the contributing authors have any conflicts of interest, including specific financial interests, relationships and affiliations relevant to the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Urology, Medical University of Graz, Auenbruggerplatz 29, 8036, Graz, Austria

    Georg C. Hutterer MD

  2. Division of Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, Medical University of Graz, Auenbruggerplatz 15, 8036, Graz, Austria

    Martin Pichler MD

  3. Department of Experimental Therapeutics, Unit 1950, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 301429, Houston, TX, USA

    Martin Pichler MD

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  1. Georg C. Hutterer MD
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  2. Martin Pichler MD
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Correspondence to Georg C. Hutterer MD or Martin Pichler MD.

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G.C. Hutterer and M. Pichler declare that they have no competing interests.

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Hutterer, G.C., Pichler, M. Renal cell carcinoma—presentation highlights from the ESMO Congress 2021. memo 15, 102–106 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12254-022-00798-6

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