Kidney Cancer

Votrient versus Sutent for renal cell cancer – pro

Progress in the treatment of kidney cancer has been nothing short of amazing in the past few years. Many new drugs have been introduced and FDA approved for first line therapy. This significantly expanded our armamentarium against this previously difficult to treat cancer. At the same time, rapid introduction of new agents has led to the situation in which there is there little evidence on how to select which one should be used first. The only the

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Tarceva for papillary renal cell carcinoma – pro

Papillary Renal Cell Carcinoma represents approximately 10% to 20% of kidney cancers. These tumors are thought of as being realtively resistant to immunotherapy with TKI and mTOR inhibitors and Tarceva(erlotinib) has been studied in this subgroup. There is a reported response rate in low teens and the disease control rate (defined as stable disease for 6 weeks, or confirmed partial response or complete response using RECIST [Response Evaluation Criteria

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Temodar for renal cell carcinoma – pro

Personalized medicine approach relies heavily on chemosensitivity testing and genetic profiling of individual cancers. Temodar is one of the drugs that is usually included in chemosensitivity panels. Unfortunately, the new paradigm does not "fit" well with the existing approaches and methods for weighing and evaluating evidence supporting cancer treatments, and new approaches to do so have not yet been developed. Temodar has some supporting, albeit

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Cryoablation for renal cell cancer – pro

Cryoablation is not  well supported by the medical literature for renal cell cancer. There are mostly case reprots adns eries, although soem of tehm are large and there are no comparative tirals. The procedure has some theoretical disadvantages. For one, it leaves no pathology, so that prognostication becomes difficult. Other limitations of percutaneous cryoablation include the inability to control hemorrhage without intra-arterial access and a

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Bortezomib for renal cell cancer – pro

Lay Summary: Velcade, a myeloma drug, has activity in kidney cancer Few treatment options exist for the patient with metastatic RCC. The majority of patients with metastatic RCC will die from their disease within 12 to 16 months of diagnosis, despite treatment with standard immune modulation. New agents with novel mechanisms are urgently needed for this clinical situation. Laboratory and preclinical studies have identified the proteasome as a potential

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Afinitor and Nexavar or Votrient – pro

Everolimus has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as the first oral, daily therapy (5 mg and 10 mg tablets) to treat advanced kidney cancer after failure of treatment with sunitinib or sorafenib. The NCCN lists it for both first and second line therapy. The approach of tailoring treatment with this drug in combination with other biologicals based on molecular profiles is potentially promising but it is not supported by the

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Decitabine and epigenetic therapy for solid cancers – pro

Lay search: Decitabine is being studies for "epigenetic" therapy of solid cancers. Genes involved in all aspects of tumor development and growth can become aberrantly methylated in tumor cells, including genes involved in apoptosis and cell cycle regulation. Decitabine, 2´-deoxy-5-azacytidine, can inhibit DNA methyltransferases and reverse epigenetic silencing of aberrantly methylated genes. Nucleoside DNA methyltransferase inhibitors, such as decitabine,

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