Improving the Care of Patients with Advanced Renal Cell Carcinoma

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) remains the most common variety of renal cancer, representing 90% of the diagnoses. Within the United States (US), it is a relatively common malignant caner, ranking as sixth and tenth most common for men and women respectively. Yet, the incidence has been slowly but steadily rising over the past thirty years. While localized RCC has a high survival rate, metastatic RCC only has a 5-20% 5-year survival rate. Previous forms of therapy at this stage had variable efficacy and poor tolerability in these advanced stages. The development of several agents has improved RCC outcomes and have improved tolerability: vascular endothelial growth factor inhibitors (VEGFi), mammalian target of rapamycin inhibitors, and immunotherapies. Of note, two main combinations of are approved in patients with RCC: (1) tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) with immuno-oncology (I-O) therapies and (2) two I-O agents. Educational programs that focus on this new and emerging approach are needed to aid clinicians in understanding the proper and safe use of I-O combinations. This collaborative social learning platform establishes a network of providers who can support each other locally, as well as those from different communities, with the goal of learning and sharing best practices that will improve outcomes for patients with renal cell carcinoma.