A recent study looked at the efficacy and safety of first- or second-line avelumab (an anti–PD-L1 immunotherapy) in patients with metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

A total of 62 patients were treated with avelumab in the first-line (intravenous infusion every 2 weeks) and 20 patients were treated with avelumab in the second-line. Most patients had intermediate- to poor-risk RCC. Progression-free survival was 8.3 months for first-line treatment with avelumab and 5.6 months for second-line treatment, while overall survival was not evaluable for first-line use of avelumab and 16.9 months for second-line use. Responses were durable and occurred irrespective of PD-L1 status.

The results from this study were not clear as far as the use of avelumab on its own to treat metastatic RCC in the first-line, but support the use of avelumab in the second-line. Avelumab was safe in both the first- and second-line and these data support the use of avelumab in combination with other treatments for metastatic RCC.

Read more in Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer here