Rana R. McKay, MD, medical oncologist, assistant professor, Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego, discusses advances in the treatment of metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

One of the most influential studies over the past few years has been the CheckMate-025 study in patients with metastatic clear cell RCC, says McKay. This was the first time that a second-line treatment was shown to improve overall survival in this population.

Studies with cabozantinib (Cabometyx), ipilimumab (Yervoy) plus nivolumab (Opdivo), and sunitinib (Sutent) have also enriched the treatment landscape of metastatic RCC, McKay adds.

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Rana R. McKay, MD, medical oncologist, assistant professor, Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego, discusses advances in the treatment of metastatic renal cell carcinoma.
 

Dr. McKay Discusses Advances in the Treatment of Metastatic RCC

Rana R. McKay, MD, assistant professor of medicine and medical oncologist at the University of California, San Diego, discusses the FDA approval of cabozantinib (Cabometyx) in the frontline setting for patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

Dr. McKay on FDA Approval of Frontline Cabozantinib in RCC

Rana R. McKay, MD, medical oncologist, assistant professor, Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego, discusses immunotherapy trials in renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

Data presented at the 2017 ESMO Congress showed that the combination of nivolumab (Opdivo) plus ipilimumab (Yervoy) improved survival and response rates for patients with intermediate- and poor-risk disease, says McKay.

Currently, there are phase III trials exploring combinations of VEGF and immunotherapy in RCC, such as the combination of cabozantinib (Cabometyx) plus nivolumab with or without ipilimumab, and the combination of axitinib (Inlyta) and pembrolizumab (Keytruda).

Rana R. McKay, MD, medical oncologist, assistant professor, Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego, discusses immunotherapy trials in renal cell carcinoma.

Dr. McKay Discusses Immunotherapy Trials in RCC

Rana R. McKay, MD, medical oncologist, assistant professor, Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego, discusses the CheckMate-214 study in renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

The phase III CheckMate-214 study evaluated the combination of nivolumab (Opdivo) plus ipilimumab (Yervoy) for patients with metastatic clear cell RCC.

This was the first time that an agent had beat sunitinib (Sutent) in the first-line space, says McKay, but there is still a lot to be learned with this combination regarding patient selection.

Rana R. McKay, MD, medical oncologist, assistant professor, Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego, discusses the CheckMate-214 study in renal cell carcinoma.

Dr. McKay Discusses the CheckMate-214 Trial in RCC

Rana R. McKay, MD, Instructor in Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses a study looking at statins and survival outcomes in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma.

In this analysis, statin users demonstrated an overall survival of 25.6 months compared with 18.9 months for non-users. This improvement was seen among patients receiving VEGF targeted therapy or mTOR targeted therapy. However, McKay says, no benefit was seen among patients receiving interferon or cytokine-based therapies.

Because of this, McKay says, statin use may be synergistic with VEGF or mTOR targeted therapies.

View more from the 2015 GU Cancer Symposium

Rana R. McKay, MD, discusses a study looking at statins and survival outcomes in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma.

Dr. McKay on Statin Use in Patients With mRCC

Rana R. McKay, MD, a clinical oncology fellow at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts, explains the mechanism of action of dutasteride and its role in a phase II trial in which abiraterone acetate was combined with dutasteride in men with metastatic castration resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC).

McKay says dutasteride is a dual 5-α reductase inhibitor that prevents the conversion of testosterone to DHT, a more potent androgen.

Dutasteride is classically used for people with benign prostatic hypertrophy but was used in this phase II trial to try to decrease levels of DHT. 

Rana R. McKay, MD, a clinical oncology fellow at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts, explains the mechanism of action of dutasteride and its role in a phase II trial in which abiraterone acetate was combined with dutasteride in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer

Rana R. McKay, MD

Articles

Dr. McKay Discusses Advances in the Treatment of Metastatic RCC

Dr. McKay on FDA Approval of Frontline Cabozantinib in RCC

Dr. McKay Discusses Immunotherapy Trials in RCC

Dr. McKay Discusses the CheckMate-214 Trial in RCC

Dr. McKay on Statin Use in Patients With mRCC

Dr. McKay Discusses Dutasteride in Prostate Cancer