Adjuvant therapy in renal cell carcinoma - past, present, and future

To date, no effective adjuvant treatment for renal cell carcinoma (RCC) has been described, but research in this area is important since the 5-year relapse rate for intermediate- and high-risk early-stage RCC is 30%-40%. Metastatic RCC can be treated successfully with immune therapy and targeted therapy. Adjuvant trials with immune therapy have been conducted, but they reported no benefit in disease-free survival, and clinical trials with targeted agents have not yet reported results. Further advances in our understanding of the molecular pathogenesis of RCC will identify additional potential targets for adjuvant treatment trials. Future challenges will consequently include target identification, as well as trial design to answer multiple trial questions concurrently, comprehensively, and economically. We review the past efforts, summarize the current adjuvant clinical trial landscape, and consider the challenges in adjuvant trials for RCC. Additionally, we identify potential future adjuvant trial treatments and propose an alternative design for future adjuvant clinical trials.