Adjuvant Therapy in Renal Cell Cancer

A number of adjuvant trials have attempted to improve outcomes for patients following nephrectomy for renal cell carcinoma (RCC). This was initially with cytokines and then Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) targeted therapies. More recently, a series of adjuvant immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) studies have been published. To date, only the KEYNOTE-564 study using adjuvant pembrolizumab has positive Disease-Free Survival (DFS) data with an acceptable toxicity profile. There are many negative ICI and anti-VEGF adjuvant trials, which raises uncertainty. Further randomised trials may be required but importantly biomarker studies are needed to identify those individuals who may benefit from adjuvant therapy.