A recent study looked at the efficacy and safety of first-line treatment with a combination of immunotherapies (immune checkpoint inhibitors) for sarcomatoid renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

The analysis included five clinical trials involving 568 patients with sarcomatoid RCC. All combinations that were looked at significantly improved progression-free survival and response rate.

Combination treatments with nivolumab plus ipilimumab and nivolumab plus cabozantinib significantly improved the time to when the cancer started growing again and the treatment stopped working (progression-free survival), overall survival time, and shrinkage of the cancer (response rate). Nivolumab plus cabozantinib also had the highest likelihood of improving in patients with sarcomatoid RCC.

Nivolumab plus ipilimumab was more likely to cause complete response to treatment.

The combination of pembrolizumab plus axitinib did not significantly improve overall survival time.

In conclusion, this study shows that sarcomatoid RCC responds to immunotherapy combinations. Nivolumab plus ipilimumab improved all efficacy outcomes and resulted in the highest complete response rates, while nivolumab plus cabozantinib had the highest likelihood of improving progression-free and overall survival time in patients with sarcomatoid RCC.

Read more in UroToday here