Possibilities of using alternative schemes of sunitinib therapy in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma. Review

Sunitinib is one of the most frequently used drugs for the first line therapy for clear cell metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC). At present, in order to achieve the optimal level of concentration of the drug in the plasma, the standard therapy regimen is 4/2 - 4 weeks of daily intake of 50 mg of sunitinib followed by a break for 2 weeks. However, with this scheme, side effects are often encountered. It makes necessary to reduce the dosage of the drug. Over the past few years, there is a growing evidence of the effectiveness of the scheme 2/1 - 2 weeks of taking sunitinib at 50 mg per day, followed by a break for a week. This scheme allows to maintain the necessary concentration of the drug in the plasma and decrease the rate of side effects. In this article, a review of the literature on the efficacy of sunitinib scheme 2 / 1 in patients with mRCC is presented.