Efficacy of anti‑PD‑1 antibody nivolumab in Japanese patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma: A retrospective multicenter analysis

To evaluate the efficacy and safety of anti-PD1 therapy (nivolumab) in advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) in a clinical setting. Between March 2013 and January 2018, 33 patients with RCC (27 men and 6 women) were treated with nivolumab. Before anti-PD1 treatment, 12, 9 and 12 patients received one, two, and three or more therapies, respectively. Objective response, survival rate, and clinical adverse events were evaluated by the revised RECIST criteria (version 1.1). The median patient age was 68 years (range: 37-79). In total, 14 (42%) patients had an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status (ECOG PS) of 0 while 17 (52%) and two (6%) had an ECOG PS of 1 and 2 or higher, respectively. One (3%), 24 (73%) and eight (24%) were classified as having favorable, intermediate, and poor risk, respectively. The median follow-up duration after nivolumab initiation was 26 months (range: 1-131). The median progression-free and overall survival were 10.3 months and 45.9 months, respectively. Nivolumab was associated with a disease control rate of 58%, with an objective response of 24% (complete response, 1; partial response, 7; stable disease, 11; progressive disease, 10; not assessed, 4). A total of 15 (46%) patients experienced adverse events, of which six were severe (grade 3 or more) and 10 were immunotherapy-related. This study examined the initial experience of nivolumab administration in Japanese patients with advanced RCC. Our results suggest that nivolumab can achieve acceptable outcomes in a real clinical setting, with outcomes that are comparable to those of clinical trials.