Bevacizumab plus erlotinib shows promise in hereditary, sporadic papillary kidney cancer

Combination treatment with bevacizumab plus erlotinib appears to work against hereditary leiomyomatosis and renal-cell cancer (HLRCC)-associated or sporadic papillary renal-cell carcinoma, according to an open-label phase II study.

The study included 43 patients with HLRCC-associated papillary renal-cell carcinoma and 40 patients with sporadic papillary renal-cell carcinoma. These patients were treated with bevacizumab at 10 mg per kilogram of body weight every 2 weeks, in addition to erlotinib at 150 mg once daily.

Overall response was the primary endpoint. Secondary endpoints included progression-free (PFS) and overall survival (OS).

Among patients with HLRCC-associated papillary renal-cell carcinoma, 31 had a confirmed response (72 percent, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 57–83). The median PFS was 21.1 months (95 percent CI, 15.6–26.6), and the median OS was 44.6 months (95 percent CI, 32.7 to could not be estimated).

Among patients with sporadic papillary renal-cell carcinoma, 14 patients achieved a confirmed response (35 percent, 95 percent CI, 22–51). The median PFS was 8.9 months (95 percent CI, 5.5–18.3), and the median OS was 18.2 months (95 percent CI, 12.6–29.3).

In terms of safety, the most frequent treatment-related adverse events (TRAEs) were acneiform rash (93 percent), diarrhoea (89 percent), and proteinuria (78 percent). The most common TRAEs of grade 3 or higher were hypertension (34 percent) and proteinuria (17 percent).