Predictive biomarker candidates to delineate efficacy of antiangiogenic treatment in renal cell carcinoma.

ABSTRACT

Antiangiogenic therapy is currently considered as the cornerstone of treatment in metastatic kidney cancer. A monoclonal antibody against the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and several tyrosine kinase inhibitors targeting the VEGF receptors demonstrated, 7 years ago, to deeply impact the outcome of this tumor and became a model of integration of molecular knowledge into clinical practice. Unfortunately, no further improvement in survival has been made and 20-25 % of cases remain primary refractory to these drugs, with an overall dismal prognosis. Since biomarker predictors of activity are lacking, their development could highly help in the process of making clinical decisions when choosing the best option for every patient or prompting the inclusion in clinical trials. This unmet medical need could become even more relevant if new immunotherapy confirms its initial promising results in this pathology. In this article, we provide an insight of current state of the art regarding the prediction of antiangiogenic efficacy in kidney cancer and propose new strategies for the implementation of such markers in clinical practice.