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Antiangiogenic therapy combined with immune checkpoint blockade in renal cancer

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Abstract

Antiangiogenic therapy with vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) inhibitors is the current first-line treatment in metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC). Immunotherapy with checkpoint inhibitor has been recently added to the armamentarium of mRCC treatment. These therapies are based on treatment with antibodies that block programmed cell death-1 (PD-1), programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) pathways, demonstrating impressive response rates and improved survival in several tumour types. So far, nivolumab is the only approved anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody after VEGF therapy in mRCC. According to preclinical and clinical studies, combination therapies with VEGF- and checkpoint inhibitors have synergistic effect achieving improved response rates. However, toxicity in some combinations is high. In this article, we present a review of the ongoing trials with these drug combinations for RCC.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the European Urological Scholarship Programme for financially supporting the research fellowship of TK and NG at Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Hospital/the Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Financial disclosure

The authors declare that they have no relevant financial interests.

Conflict of interest

AB took part in advisory boards of Pfizer, Novartis, Ipsen, Eisai and Roche. He is the PI of the EORTC SURTIME trial sponsored in part by a Grant from Pfizer to the EORTC. LA has received consulting and advisory fees from BMS, Pfizer, Novartis, Sanofi, Amgen, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Bayer, and Cerulean; and research funding from Pfizer and Novartis. BE has received fees for serving on advisory boards from Pfizer, Novartis, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Exelixis, and Roche and lecture fees from Pfizer and Novartis. JH has consulted or has an advisory role for MSD Oncology, Pfizer, and Bristol-Myers Squibb, as well as gained research funding by MSD and Bristol-Myers Squibb. TP is a company consultant for Novartis, Pfizer, GSK, has received company speaker honoraria from Novartis, Pfizer, GSK, Genentech, performed trial participation for GSK, Pfizer, BMS, Genentech, Genetech, and received grants/research support from GSK, Pfizer, and Novartis. The other authors have no conflict of interest to declare.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Urology, The Netherlands Cancer Institute, Postbus 90203, 1006 BE, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Teele Kuusk, Nikolaos Grivas & Axel Bex

  2. Department of Medical Oncology, Gustave Roussy, 114 rue Edouard Vaillant, 94805, Villejuif, France

    Laurence Albiges & Bernard Escudier

  3. Department of Medical Oncology, The Netherlands Cancer Institute, Postbus 90203, 1006 BE, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    John Haanen

  4. Department of Medical Oncology, The Royal Free NHS Trust and Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK

    Thomas Powles

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  1. Teele Kuusk
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  2. Laurence Albiges
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Correspondence to Axel Bex.

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Kuusk, T., Albiges, L., Escudier, B. et al. Antiangiogenic therapy combined with immune checkpoint blockade in renal cancer. Angiogenesis 20, 205–215 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10456-017-9550-0

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