An Overview of Systemic Targeted Therapy in Renal Cell Carcinoma, with a Focus on Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma and Brain Metastases

The most commonly diagnosed malignancy of the urinary system is represented by renal cell carcinoma. Various subvariants of RCC were described, with a clear-cell type prevailing in about 85% of all RCC tumors. Patients with metastases from renal cell carcinoma did not have many effective therapies u...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Liliana Eleonora Semenescu, Amira Kamel, Vasile Ciubotaru, Silvia Mara Baez-Rodriguez, Mircea Furtos, Alexandra Costachi, Anica Dricu, Ligia Gabriela Tătăranu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2023-09-01
Series:Current Issues in Molecular Biology
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/1467-3045/45/9/485
Description
Summary:The most commonly diagnosed malignancy of the urinary system is represented by renal cell carcinoma. Various subvariants of RCC were described, with a clear-cell type prevailing in about 85% of all RCC tumors. Patients with metastases from renal cell carcinoma did not have many effective therapies until the end of the 1980s, as long as hormonal therapy and chemotherapy were the only options available. The outcomes were unsatisfactory due to the poor effectiveness of the available therapeutic options, but then interferon-alpha and interleukin-2 showed treatment effectiveness, providing benefits but only for less than half of the patients. However, it was not until 2004 that targeted therapies emerged, prolonging the survival rate. Currently, new technologies and strategies are being developed to improve the actual efficacy of available treatments and their prognostic aspects. This article summarizes the mechanisms of action, importance, benefits, adverse events of special interest, and efficacy of immunotherapy in metastatic renal cell carcinoma, with a focus on brain metastases.
ISSN:1467-3037
1467-3045