Treating metastatic renal cell cancer

Conventional chemotherapy is not effective in renal cell cancer, which is also very resistant to radiotherapy. Systemic treatment for renal cell cancer where the cancer has spread to other parts of the body (metastasised) is therefore a little different from other cancers.

Since the introduction of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) more than 10 years ago, treatment of this cancer has changed dramatically. Unlike conventional chemotherapy agents, tyrosine kinase inhibitors do not work by poisoning the cell. Instead they disrupt metabolism and signalling within cancer cells, which stops the cancer from growing. In recent years, another new class of drugs has also become available in the form of checkpoint inhibitors. These work on the immune system and help the body to attack the cancer cells.
More and more drugs for treating this disease are becoming available, as a result of which treatment of metastatic renal cell cancer represents a particular challenge for urological oncology specialists.