A new scenario in metastatic renal cell carcinoma: a SOG-GU consensus.

BACKGROUND: This article describes and compares approved targeted therapies and the newer immunotherapy agents. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This article especially performs an in-depth review of currently available data for tivozanib, explaining its mechanism of action, its safety profile and its role as an efficacy drug in the management of renal cancer. RESULTS: Despite the fact that the treatment of advanced RCC has been dramatically modified in recent years, durable remissions are scarce and it remains a lethal disease. For first- and second-line therapy, there is now growing evidence to guide the selection of the appropriate treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Several TKIs are standard of care at different settings. Among those approved TKIs, tivozanib has similar efficacy than others with a better safety profile. The use of prognostic factors is critical to the selection of optimal therapy.

Long-term survival in advanced non-squamous NSCLC patients treated with first-line bevacizumab-based therapy.

BACKGROUND/AIM: First-line bevacizumab-based therapies have been shown to improve clinical outcomes in patients with non-squamous non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We aimed to descriptively analyse patients with non-squamous NSCLC who received a long-term period of maintenance bevacizumab. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This retrospective study included 104 patients who had already reached a progression-free survival (PFS) of at least 9 months. RESULTS: Median overall survival and PFS were 30.7 and 15.1 months, respectively. The overall response rate was 83 %. Weight loss ≤5 %, ECOG PS = 0, or low number of metastatic sites seem to be predictive factors of good evolution. The incidence of bevacizumab-related adverse events appeared to be similar as the previous studies. CONCLUSION: Our findings show that there is a long-term survivor group whom the administration of bevacizumab resulted in a relevant prolongation of response without new safety signals. Due to the population heterogeneity, it was not possible to identify the standardised predictive factors.

Prognostic significance of circulating tumor cells in advanced non-small cell lung cancer patients treated with docetaxel and gemcitabine.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the association in the change of circulating tumor cell (CTC) levels and clinical outcomes (PFS and OS) in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated homogenously with docetaxel and gemcitabine administered every 2 weeks. METHODS: We prospectively evaluated 37 patients for CTC levels at baseline and after 2 months of chemotherapy (before third cycle). Detection was carried out with the CellSearch system. RESULTS: Nine of the 37 patients (24 %) had ≥2 CTCs at the baseline determination. Median progression-free survival (PFS) was 4.3 months (95 % CI 2.5-8.3) for patients with CTC 0-1 as compared to 9.4 months (95 % CI 1.2-12.2) for those with CTC ≥2 (p = 0.3506). Median overall survival (OS) was 8.1 (95 % CI 2.8-16.3) and 12.2 (95 % CI 1.4-12.2) months for patients with 0-1 CTCs and ≥2 CTCs, respectively (p = 0.7639). Patients with a second CTC quantification were classified as: group 1, CTC = 0-1 at baseline and CTC = 0-1 after second chemotherapy cycle (18 patients); group 2, CTC ≥2 at baseline and CTC = 0-1 after second determination (5 patients). Median PFS was 7.7 and 9.9 months for group 1 and group 2, respectively (p = 0.4467). CONCLUSIONS: CTCs ≥2 at baseline were detected only in 24 % of this group of patients with advanced NSCLC and poor performance status. No significant differences in PFS and OS between patients with or without CTCs at baseline were observed.