Novel agents, combinations and sequences for the treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma: When is the revolution coming?

Biological agents, such as multikinase inhibitors and mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitors, have replaced immunotherapy as the standard of care for metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC). Several clinical trials have been performed, aimed to identify new feasible therapeutic targets. AKT, PI3K, STAT3, NOTCH-1, α5β1-integrin, CD70 and G250 are just examples of these opening frontiers. Novel agents, combination and sequences are emerging from the 887 clinical studies presently in course in mRCC to optimize patient outcomes. This report not includes studies on chemotherapy, local approaches, immunotherapy, surgical trials and other categories, but provides an update on ongoing phase I, II and III trials and preliminary results on targeted agents, used alone, in sequences or in combination for mRCC.