Immunologic Therapy of Renal Cell Carcinoma

Abstract

Interleukin-2 (IL-2) has been the mainstay of immunotherapy of metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) therapy for over 20 years. Although IL-2 treatment is limited to fit patients, a select group of these patients have derived substantial, durable benefit from it, for some translating into cures with no ongoing therapy or chronic toxicity. While targeted therapies are applicable to most patients, improvements of median survival have been measured in months. Immunotherapy, encompassing not only IL-2 but also newer checkpoint and vaccine approaches, therefore still has an important role for many as a main choice in RCC treatment. Enhanced patient selection techniques have evolved over time, and the overall response rate to high-dose (HD) IL-2 has improved among those selected patients. An increased understanding of immunotherapy has led to other novel approaches. These include checkpoint inhibitors mediating changes of T-cell behavior acting at the lymphocyte protein receptor programmed death-1 (PD-1), such as nivolumab, and vaccine immunotherapies, including peptide and dendritic cell vaccines in pivotal trials, and coordinated use of radiation therapy with IL-2, encouraging in early phase testing. Such approaches have the potential to expand the immune approach to achieve outcomes with better overall survival for many patients with mRCC.