Wayne Kuznar

Articles by Wayne Kuznar

Immune-checkpoint inhibitor therapy, involving anti–CTLA-4 and anti–PD-1/ PD-L1 agents, has transformed the treatment of melanoma. Nonetheless, even with combination anti–PD-1 and anti–CTLA-4 therapy, nearly 50% of patients die of their disease at 5 years.

Most patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma whose disease progresses after immunotherapy given either alone or in combination with other agents receive subsequent treatment with VEGF tyrosine kinase inhibitors or mTOR inhibitors. When administered post-immunotherapy, cabozantinib is associated with superior median progression free survival, according to retrospective data from a real-world study of patients treated at 16 Italian referral centers.

Stereotactic body radiotherapy combined with nivolumab was associated with “high” disease control and overall survival rates in a phase II study of pretreated patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma, according to lead investigator Cristina Masini, MD, who presented the data at the 2020 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium.