Outcome of renal cell carcinoma in patients on dialysis compared to non-dialysis patients

Renal cell carcinoma outcomes in end-stage renal disease: A 40-year study from two Japanese institutions

OBJECTIVES

The objective of the study was to analyze the outcomes of patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC) arising in end-stage renal disease (ESRD) over a 40-year span.

METHODS

We retrospectively evaluated data of patients with ESRD-RCC diagnosed between 1979 and 2020 at two institutions. We assessed changes in stage, surgical approaches, and cancer-specific survival (CSS) following nephrectomy according to era between ESRD-RCC and sporadic RCC. Furthermore, perioperative outcomes in patients with ESRD-RCC were compared between laparoscopic and open surgery.

RESULTS

Patients with ESRD-RCC (n = 549) were diagnosed at an earlier stage (p = 0.0276), and the ratio of laparoscopic nephrectomy was increased (p < 0.0001) according to eras. Since 2000 (i.e., after implementation of laparoscopic nephrectomy), patients with ESRD-RCC (n = 305) had significantly shorter CSS (p = 0.0063) after nephrectomy than sporadic RCC (n = 2732). After adjustment by multivariate analysis and propensity score matching, ESRD status was independently associated with shorter CSS (p = 0.0055 and p = 0.0473, respectively). Improved CSS in sporadic RCC (p < 0.0001), but not ESRD-RCC (p = 0.904), according to era contributed to this difference. Laparoscopic nephrectomy showed favorable outcomes, including shorter surgery time, lower estimated bleeding volumes, transfusion rates, and readmission rates, and shorter postoperative hospitalization than open nephrectomy (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Advances in diagnostic and treatment modalities potentially enable early diagnosis and minimally invasive surgery for patients with ESRD-RCC. As ESRD-RCC may not present indolently, careful post-operative monitoring is needed.

Renal Cell Carcinoma in End-Stage Kidney Disease and the Role of Transplantation

Kidney transplant patients have a higher risk of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) compared to non-transplanted end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) patients. This increased risk has largely been associated with the use of immunosuppression; however, recent genetic research highlights the significance of tissue specificity in cancer driver genes. The implication of tissue specificity becomes more obscure when addressing transplant patients, as two distinct metabolic environments are present within one individual. The oncogenic potential of donor renal tissue is largely unknown but assumed to pose minimal risk to the kidney transplant recipient (KTR). Our review challenges this notion by examining how donor and recipient microenvironments impact a transplant recipient's associated risk of renal cell carcinoma. In doing so, we attempt to encapsulate how ESKD-RCC and KTR-RCC differ in their incidence, pathogenesis, outcome, and approach to management.

Comparison of Outcomes Between Therapeutic Combinations Based on Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors or Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor Monotherapy for First-Line Therapy of Patients with Advanced Renal Cell Carcinoma Outside of Clinical Trials: A Real-World Retrospective Multi-Institutional Study

BACKGROUND

Clinical trials have demonstrated the superior efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI)-based combination therapy over sunitinib, a multi-target tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI), in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma. However, such benefits have not been elucidated in populations outside of clinical trials.

METHODS

We retrospectively evaluated data from 467 patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma who received ICI-based combination therapy or TKIs, as first-line therapy. Clinical outcome was compared between ICI-based combination therapy and TKIs in each population divided according to trial eligibility.

RESULTS

Among 152 patients treated with ICI-based combination therapy and 315 patients treated with TKIs, 76 (50.0%) and 156 (49.5%) were trial ineligible, respectively. Overall survival (p = 0.0072) and objective response rate (p < 0.0001) were significantly higher in ICI-based combination therapy than in TKIs, but progression-free survival was comparable (p = 0.681). In the trial-eligible population, overall survival was longer (p = 0.0906) and the objective response rate was significantly higher (p = 0.0124) in ICI-based combination therapy than in TKIs. In the trial-ineligible population, overall survival (p = 0.0208) and objective response rate (p = 0.0006) were significantly higher with ICI-based combination therapy than with TKIs. A multivariate analysis also showed that ICI-based combination therapy was independently associated with prolonged overall survival (hazard ratio, 0.47; p = 0.0016). Regardless of trial eligibility, progression-free survival did not differ between ICI-based combination therapy and TKIs (trial eligible: p = 0.287; trial ineligible: p = 0.0708).

CONCLUSIONS

The present study, using real-world data, provides evidence indicating the therapeutic benefit of ICI-based combination therapy over TKIs for advanced renal cell carcinoma was more statistically significant in the trial-ineligible population than in the trial-eligible population.

Outcome of advanced renal cell carcinoma arising in end-stage renal disease: comparison with sporadic renal cell carcinoma

BACKGROUND

The data regarding oncological outcome in advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) arising in end-stage renal disease (ESRD) are limited.

METHODS

Patients diagnosed with advanced RCC on maintenance dialysis therapy (ESRD-RCC) and treated with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) were retrospectively evaluated. Progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), and objective response rate (ORR) after initiation of first-line TKI therapy in ESRD-RCC patients were compared to those in RCC arising in the general population (sporadic RCC).

RESULTS

A total of 36 and 240 patients were diagnosed with advanced ESRD-RCC and sporadic RCC, respectively. PFS and OS were significantly shorter in patients with ESRD-RCC than in those with sporadic RCC (p = 0.0004 and p = 0.0045). After adjusting for histopathological type, MSKCC risk and liver metastasis status, ESRD status (ESRD-RCC vs. sporadic RCC) was not an independent risk factor for PFS or OS (both, p > 0.05). The ORR tended to be lower in patients with ESRD-RCC than in those with sporadic RCC (11% vs. 28%, p = 0.0833). In 34 patients with ESRD-RCC treated with sorafenib, longer duration of dialysis was an independent prognostic factor for shorter OS (hazard ratio 3.21, p = 0.0370).

CONCLUSIONS

Outcome of advanced ESRD-RCC was poorer than that of sporadic RCC, but this finding was affected by other prognostic factors. Nevertheless, the study suggested that advanced ESRD-RCC was not an indolent disease. Additionally, patients with a longer duration of dialysis therapy might require careful monitoring.