Nivolumab is an important new therapy option for patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma, and has a different mechanism of action compared with vascular endothelial growth factor -targeted therapies. It is a programmed death 1 immune checkpoint inhibitor antibody with response patterns, efficacy, and safety profiles that differ from those of conventional antiangiogenic or mammalian target of rapamycin inhibition therapy.
This commentary discusses and evaluates the clinical experience with nivolumab from the available literature and presents practical considerations for the use of nivolumab immunotherapy in aRCC to optimize clinical management.
Urologic oncology. 2017 Mar 02 [Epub ahead of print]
Richard W Joseph, Gurkamal Chatta, Ulka Vaishampayan
Division of Hematology/Oncology, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL. Electronic address: ., Clinical Chief for Genitourinary Medicine, Professor of Oncology, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY., Professor of Oncology, Karmanos Cancer Institute, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI.