Temsirolimus controlled metastatic advanced renal cell carcinoma for over 4 years: a case study

We present a case report of long-term response with temsirolimus in cytokine refractory metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC). A 74-year-old Japanese man was diagnosed with advanced RCC in November 2007 and enrolled in a phase II study to examine the safety and efficacy of temsirolimus in East Asian patients with metastatic RCC. He achieved a partial response 12 months after starting treatment with temsirolimus followed by stable disease for 39 months. The most notable toxicity was grade 3 pericardial effusion, which gradually increased 2 years after treatment start until discontinuation of the trial resulting in pericardial tamponade, grade 3 hypoxia associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which he had before the trial, and latent interstitial pneumonia. The cease of temsirolimus led to improvement of interstitial pneumonia while the target lesion progressed. He died of progressive COPD and latent interstitial pneumonia 4 months after discontinuing temsirolimus. To our knowledge, he lived the longest in East Asian populations since starting temsirolimus.