Objective response rates, median progression-free survival, and overall survival increased in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and sunitinib-induced hypertension, according to results of a retrospective analysis of more than 500 RCC patients treated with sunitinib. The rate of adverse events did not increase in hypertensive patients, except for renal adverse events (5% vs 3%). Because of the ease of clinical monitoring, the researchers concluded that, if prospectively validated, sunitinib-induced hypertension will make a desirable biomarker in these patients.
The complete study is available in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/content/103/9/763.long).