BACKGROUND: Sunitinib, an oral multitarget tyrosine kinase inhibitor and standard first-line treatment for metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC), is generally administered on a 6-week schedule (4 weeks on/2 weeks off).
However, drug toxicity often leads to temporary treatment interruption, resulting in reduced treatment efficacy. In this report, we investigated whether sunitinib administration of at a dose of 25 mg/day in a 2-weeks-on/1-week-off cycle would reduce the incidence of drug-related side effects while maintaining drug efficacy.
FINDINGS: A total of six patients with mRCC were orally administered sunitinib at a dose of 25 mg/day in a 2-weeks-on/1-week-off regimen until intolerable toxicities occurred. All enrolled patients were assessed for toxicity and response. The median treatment period was 24 months (range, 9-40 months). Objective responses were as follows: disease stabilization of >6 months was achieved in all patients. The most important toxicities were neutropenia, fatigue, and proteinuria, but all were controlled.
CONCLUSIONS: Oral sunitinib at 25 mg/day in a 2-weeks-on/1-week-off regimen to Japanese patients can avoid drug-related toxicities while achieving the same dose intensity as a 6-week schedule. Because these data were derived from a small number of patients, future prospective studies of modified sunitinib administration schedules are warranted.
Written by:
Makino K, Yoda K, Tomoishi J, Kume H. Are you the author?
Department of Urology, Ome Municipal General Hospital, 4-16-5 Higashiome, Ome, Tokyo, Japan.
Reference: BMC Res Notes. 2014 Dec 4;7:872.
doi: 10.1186/1756-0500-7-872
PubMed Abstract
PMID: 25471941