pazopanib and Hypothyroidism

Not only has the use of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) for the treatment of metastatic renal cell carcinomas (mRCC) changed the therapeutic options for this disease significantly, but with the occurrence of typical side effects this therapy also poses a challenge for the treating physician. Fatigue und hypothyroidism are two common side effects of TKI therapy that can often appear simultaneously. By reducing the patients' quality of life these side effects often lead to a discontinuation of therapy. With this review we want to give the treating physician an overview of the classification and the specific treatment of TKI-induced fatigue and hypothyroidism in order to maximize patients' compliance and the therapeutic efficacy of TKI therapy.

Topics: Anilides; Antineoplastic Agents; Axitinib; Carcinoma, Renal Cell; Disease Progression; Enzyme Inhibitors; Fatigue; Humans; Hypothyroidism; Imidazoles; Indazoles; Indoles; Kidney Neoplasms; Neoplasm Staging; Niacinamide; Phenylurea Compounds; Protein-Tyrosine Kinases; Pyridines; Pyrimidines; Pyrroles; Quality of Life; Sorafenib; Sulfonamides; Sunitinib

With the advent of targeted agents for the treatment of renal cell carcinoma (RCC), overall survival has improved, and patients are being treated continuously for increasingly long periods of time. This has raised challenges in the management of adverse events (AEs) associated with the six targeted agents approved in RCC-sorafenib, sunitinib, pazopanib, bevacizumab (in combination with interferon alpha), temsirolimus, and everolimus. Suggestions for monitoring and managing AEs have been published, but there are few consensus recommendations. In addition, there is a risk that patients will be subjected to multiple unnecessary investigations. In this review, we aimed to identify the level of supporting evidence for suggested AE management strategies to provide practical guidance on essential monitoring and management that should be undertaken when using targeted agents. Five databases were systematically searched for relevant English language articles (including American Society of Clinical Oncology abstracts) published between January 2007 and March 2011; European Society of Medical Oncology congress abstracts were hand searched. Strategies for AE management were summarized and categorized according to the level of recommendation. A total of 107 articles were identified that describe a large number of different investigations for monitoring AEs and interventions for AE management. We identify and summarize clear recommendations for the management of dermatologic, gastrointestinal, thyroid, cardiovascular, and other AEs, based predominantly on expert opinion. However, because the evidence for the suggested management strategies is largely anecdotal, there is a need for further systematic investigation of management strategies for AEs related to targeted therapies for RCC.

Topics: Anorexia; Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized; Antineoplastic Agents; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols; Benzenesulfonates; Bevacizumab; Carcinoma, Renal Cell; Cardiovascular System; Drug Eruptions; Europe; Everolimus; Evidence-Based Medicine; Gastrointestinal Tract; Humans; Hypothyroidism; Indazoles; Indoles; Kidney Neoplasms; Molecular Targeted Therapy; Niacinamide; Phenylurea Compounds; Pneumonia; Protein Kinase Inhibitors; Protein-Tyrosine Kinases; Pyridines; Pyrimidines; Pyrroles; Sirolimus; Sorafenib; Sulfonamides; Sunitinib; TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A; Weight Loss; Wound Healing

Temsirolimus has long been the only approved first-line standard of care (SOC) with overall survival (OS) benefit in poor-risk patients with advanced or metastatic renal cell cancer (mRCC). However, tyrosine kinase inhibitors are also commonly used in clinical practice. Pazopanib is an SOC for first-line mRCC treatment, but for poor-risk patients data are scarce. The FLIPPER (First-Line Pazopanib in Poor-Risk Patients with Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma) study aimed to assess efficacy and safety of first-line pazopanib in poor-risk mRCC patients. FLIPPER was a single-arm, multicenter, Phase IV trial. Key inclusion criteria were treatment-naive clear cell, inoperable advanced or mRCC, poor-risk according to MSKCC with slight modification, Karnofsky performance status (KPS) ≥60% and adequate organ function. Oral pazopanib 800 mg was given daily. Primary endpoint was the 6-month progression-free survival rate (PFS6). Secondary endpoints included PFS, OS, overall response rate (ORR), duration of response (DOR) and safety. For analysis, descriptive statistics were used. Between 2012 and 2016, 60 patients had been included. Forty-three patients qualified for safety analyses, 34 for efficacy. Median age was 66 years, 64.7% of patients were poor-risk, 82.4% had a KPS ≤70%. PFS6 was 35.3% (95% CI, 19.7-53.5). Median PFS and OS were 4.5 months (95% CI, 3.6-7.8) and 9.3 months (95% CI, 6.6-22.2), respectively. ORR was 32.4% (95% CI, 17.4-50.5), median DOR 9.7 months (95% CI, 1.8-12.4). The most common treatment-related grade 3/4 adverse event reported in 4.7% of patients was hypertension. No treatment-related death occurred. Since pazopanib is active and well tolerated in poor-risk patients with clear cell mRCC, our results support its use as first-line treatment in this setting.

Topics: Administration, Oral; Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Angiogenesis Inhibitors; Carcinoma, Renal Cell; Diarrhea; Fatigue; Female; Humans; Hypothyroidism; Indazoles; Kaplan-Meier Estimate; Kidney Neoplasms; Male; Middle Aged; Nausea; Neoplasm Metastasis; Pyrimidines; Sulfonamides; Treatment Outcome

Metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) develops in approximately 33% of all renal cancer patients. First line treatment of mRCC includes drugs such as sunitinib, temsirolimus and pazopanib, with overall survival now reaching up to 43,6months in patients with favorable-risk metastatic disease. Several side-effects in mRCC treatment, such as hypothyroidism, can be used as positive prognostic factors and indicate good response to therapy. Hypercholesterolemia and hypertriglyceridemia independent of hypothyroidism are reported as side-effects in temsirolimus treatment and recently in sunitinib treatment, but the exact mechanism and significance of the changes remains elusive. Most likely, metabolic changes are caused by inhibition of mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR), a positive target of tumor growth suppression, but also a regulator of iron homeostasis. There are no clinical studies reporting changes in iron and ferritin levels during mRCC biotherapy, but we hypothesize that inhibition of mTOR will also affect iron and ferritin levels. If both lipid and iron changes correlate, there is a high possibility that both changes are primarily caused by mTOR inhibition and the level of change should correlate with the inhibition of mTOR pathway and hence the efficacy of targeted treatment. We lastly hypothesize that mRCC biotherapy causes hypercholesterolemia with a possibly improved cholesterol profile due to increase HDL/LDL ratio, so statins might not have a role as supplementary treatment, whereas a sharp rise in triglyceride levels seems to be the primary target for additional therapy.

Topics: Animals; Antineoplastic Agents; Biomarkers, Tumor; Carcinoma, Renal Cell; Cholesterol; Ferritins; Humans; Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors; Hypercholesterolemia; Hypertriglyceridemia; Hypothyroidism; Indazoles; Indoles; Iron; Kidney Neoplasms; Lipids; Metabolome; Models, Theoretical; Neoplasm Metastasis; Prognosis; Pyrimidines; Pyrroles; Sirolimus; Sulfonamides; Sunitinib; TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases; Triglycerides