Adjuvant antiangiogenic agents in post-nephrectomy renal cell carcinoma (RCC): A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Abstract

689 Background: The role of antiangiogenic agents in advanced RCC is well established. However, it is still not clear whether this benefit can be extrapolated to the adjuvant setting. In this meta-analysis of 3 randomized control trials (RCTs), we sought to determine the efficacy of these agents in RCC patients who underwent nephrectomy with high risk of relapse. Methods: We searched three databases, including Pubmed, Embase, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials to identify RCTs comparing antiangiogenic agents to placebo in post-nephrectomy RCC patients. We evaluated: 1) the effect of antiangiogenics in highest risk groups as defined by individual studies; 2) the role of each agent separately; and 3) the effect in clear-cell RCC population. Outcomes of interest included overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS). The overall effect was pooled using the DerSimonian and Laird random effects models Results: Three RCTs (N = 3693 patients) were identified. All studies were comparing placebo to antiangiogenics: sunitinib, sorafenib, and pazopanib. Overall, antiangiogenics did not improve DFS (HR 0.92, 95% CI 0.78 to 1.07) or OS (HR 0.99, 95% CI 0.79 to 1.25). These results persisted when restricting the analysis to patients with clear cell carcinoma and patients with highest risk of relapse. Similarly, sunitinib did not show any improvement in the entire studied group for either DFS (HR 0.89, 95% CI 0.67 to 1.19) or OS (HR 1.11, 95% CI 0.90 to 1.37). In addition, when restricting the analysis to the high risk group, sunitinib did not show any advantage in terms of DFS (HR 0.85, 95% CI 0.67 to 1.07) and OS (HR 1.04, 95% CI 0.83 to 1.31). Conclusions: Based on the available evidence, antiangiogenics do not seem to add an advantage over placebo in terms of OS and DFS in high risk RCC patients after nephrectomy. Further studies are needed to identify the patient population which might derive a benefit from antiangiogenics in the adjuvant setting.