Molecularly targeted therapies for renal cell cancer: TRAIL research advances.

摘要

With the age of molecularly targeted therapeutics for cancer upon us, the dismal outlook for patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is rapidly improving. The addition of sorafenib and sunitinib (targeting vascular endothelial growth factor and platelet derived growth factor receptors) to the therapeutic armamentarium used for advanced RCC has significantly increased survival for patients with this disease. Newer experimental agents including temsirolimus (targeting mTOR [mammalian target of rapamycin]) and bevacizumab (targeting vascular endothelial growth factor) are also showing clinical promise in extending survival, and this is all welcome news in the fight against metastatic RCC. Despite these recent advances it is clear that these newer drugs, like the chemotherapeutic agents that preceded them, are associated with transient responses resulting in eventual treatment failure. Thus, there remains a need for other types of targeted therapies against RCC.