Papillary renal cell carcinoma (pRCC) is the most common subtype of non-clear cell kidney cancer. People with papillary RCC are often excluded from large phase 3 trials, which focus on the more common form of kidney cancer, clear cell RCC.  Therefore, treatment options for non-clear cell kidney cancers are limited. The aim of this study was to look at the effectiveness of immunotherapy combinations compared to TKIs for the treatment of previously untreated patients with papillary RCC.

This study used real-world data collected from patients with advanced papillary RCC treated in 40 hospitals in 12 countries. There were 200 patients with metastatic papillary RCC in the study; 73 were treated with immunotherapy combinations and 127 with TKIs. The average overall survival time was nearly 2 years for patients taking TKIs, and nearly 2 and a half years for patients taking immunotherapy combinations. The average time to when the treatment stopped working and the cancer started growing again (progression-free survival) was just over 6 months for the TKI group, and nearly a year and a half for the patients taking immunotherapy. More patients responded to immunotherapy treatment (41%) compared to TKI treatment (27%).

These findings show that immunotherapy combinations are more effective and have better survival outcomes than TKIs for the treatment of previously untreated patients with papillary RCC.

Read more in UroToday here