The Role of Cytokines in the Therapy of Renal Cell Carcinoma

Abstract

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the most common malignant tumor of the kidney and the third most common urologic cancer [12]. Since the onset of symptoms frequently occurs late and clinical signs may vary considerably, correct diagnosis is often established only when the disease is advanced. In fact, at initial presentation approximately 50% of patients already have metastatic disease [2,7,14]. The median duration of survival in patients with overt distant disease at presentation is 10 months, with a 2-year survival rate of 10%. There is no effective systemic therapy, as renal cancer has proven refractory to both hormonal treatment [13] and chemotherapy [19]. There are, however, recent preliminary reports of responses to immunotherapy.