Immuno-oncology (or immunotherapy) and precision medicine are the newest developments in the treatment of advanced cancer. Immuno-oncology helps to restore the body’s immune system and improves outcomes when administered alone or in combination with chemotherapy.Immunotherapy is the use of medicines to stimulate a person’s own immune system to recognize and destroy cancer cells more effectively. Certain types of immunotherapy can be used to treat renal cell carcinoma.
Targeted therapy is a type of cancer treatment that uses drugs to identify and attack cancer cells while doing little damage to normal cells.
Drugs that target tumor blood vessel growth (angiogenesis)
- TKIs
- Axitinib (Inlyta)
- Bevacizumab (Avastin)
- Cabozantinib (Cabometyx)
- Lenvatinib (Lenvima)
- Pazopanib (Votrient)
- Sorafenib (Nexavar)
- Sunitinib (Sutent)
- Tivozanib (Fotivda)
HIF Inhibitor
- Belzutifan (Welireg)
Drugs that target the mTOR protein
- Temsirolimus (Torisel)
- Everolimus (Afinitor)
Immuno-oncology treatments for renal cell cancer help to restore the immune response against the cancer cells.
PD-1 inhibitors
- Pembrolizumab (Keytruda)
- Nivolumab (Opdivo)
- Avelumab (Bavencio)
CTLA-4 inhibitors
Ipilimumab (Yervoy)
Cytokines
- Interferon-alfa
- Interleukin-2 (IL-2)
In an attempt to improve the chance of cure, immunotherapies and chemotherapy are being tested alone or in combination with chemotherapy in clinical trials.