Biological therapy drugs for kidney cancer

There are several different types of biological therapy used for advanced kidney cancer. You usually have them for as long as they are controlling the cancer. You will see your doctor every 4 to 6 weeks while you are having these treatments and will have blood tests. You usually also have scans every 3 months or so to check whether the treatment is still working. The drugs used include sunitinib, sorafenib, pazopanib, bevacizumab, interferon, everolimus and temsirolimus.

We give brief information about these drugs on this page but you can find more detailed information in the cancer drugs section. Your doctor or nurse will give you information about coping with the side effects and you can also look at our cancer drug side effects section.

Sunitinib is also called Sutent. It is the most commonly prescribed first treatment for advanced kidney cancer. It comes as a capsule, which you swallow. You take it daily for 4 weeks and then have a 2 week break. 

It is a type of drug called a tyrosine kinase inhibitor or TKI for short. It blocks tyrosine kinase in cancer cells. Tyrosine kinase is a chemical messenger (an enzyme) that sends messages to tell cells to divide and grow.

The main side effects include

• Tiredness
• Taste changes
• Diarrhoea
• A skin rash or dry and itchy skin
• A sore mouth
• Sore hands and feet. 

Some people have a raised blood pressure during the treatment. 

We have detailed information about the side effects of sunitinib in the cancer dug section.

You have sorafenib (Nexavar) as a tablet every day. Sorafenib works in two ways. It stops signals that tell cancer cells to grow. It also stops cancer cells forming blood vessels, which they need to grow. You may have it as a first treatment for advanced kidney cancer. 

The main side effects are

• Diarrhoea
• Sore hands and feet
• Dry skin and an itchy rash
• Tiredness
• Hair thinning

You take pazopanib (Votrient) as tablets every day. Your doctor may recommend it as a first treatment for advanced kidney cancer. The main side effects include 

• Diarrhoea
• A rash or itchy skin
• Tiredness
• Sickness

You have bevacizumab (Avastin) as a drip into a vein (intravenously) every 2 weeks. You have interferon as an injection under the skin three times a week. You, a friend, or a relative can be taught how to give the interferon injections at home or you can have them done by your GP practice nurse, or a district nurse. You may have this treatment as a first treatment for advanced kidney cancer.

The most common side effect of interferon is flu like symptoms during the first week or two of treatment. Taking paracetamol half an hour before your injection can help to prevent or reduce these side effects. This treatment can also make you very tired. 

Other side effects can include

• Constipation
• Diarrhoea
• Feeling sick
• High blood pressure
• Sadness or depression

If kidney cancer comes back and the area of cancer is very small your doctor may suggest treatment with interferon on its own. You have the interferon as an injection under the skin three times a week. 

The most common side effect of interferon is flu like symptoms during the first week or two of treatment. Taking paracetamol half an hour before your injection can help to prevent or reduce these side effects. This treatment can also make you very tired. Some people also feel sad or depressed while having interferon.

You take everolimus (Afinitor) as a tablet once a day. It blocks signals that tell cancer cells to grow and is a type of biological therapy called an mTOR inhibitor. Doctors use it as a second treatment for advanced kidney cancer for people who have had other biological therapy drugs. 

The possible side effects include

• Low resistance to infection
• Tiredness
• A sore mouth
• A rash or dry, itchy skin
• Feeling or being sick

Temsirolimus (Torisel) is a type of mTOR inhibitor and you have it by drip into a vein once a week. Like everolimus doctors use it as a second treatment for advanced kidney cancer in people who have had a previous biological therapy drug.

The side effects include

• A rash and dry, red or itchy skin
• Feeling sick
• Diarrhoea
• A sore mouth

Other biological treatments being developed include

• Vaccines
• New immunotherapy drugs
• Drugs to stop tumours making blood vessels

Vaccines

Vaccines can be made from tumour cells or dendritic cells. Tumour cell vaccines are made from each individual patient’s kidney cancer cells, removed during surgery. Dendritic cells are a type of white blood cell. They are removed from the blood and mixed with kidney cancer cells in a laboratory. Then, they are injected back into the patient as a vaccine.

New immunotherapy drugs

Immunotherapy drugs are drugs that work in a similar way to interferon and IL-2. They include GM-CSF (a growth factor that tells the body to grow white blood cells) and IL-12 (another chemical messenger of the body’s immune system).

Drugs to stop tumours making blood vessels

Treatments that stop tumours making blood vessels are called anti angiogenics. One drug used to do this is thalidomide. Thalidomide has been tested in combination with interferon and IL2 for advanced kidney cancer.

For further information about experimental treatments, look at the kidney cancer research page.