Abstract
The worldwide incidence of kidney cancer is estimated at 337,860 new cases per year in the International Agency for Research on Cancer's GLOBOCAN 2012 update, with an estimated 143,369 deaths annually. Over the past 10 years, there have been significant advances in the treatment of advanced/metastatic renal cell carcinoma, including the development of targeted therapies. Currently recommended first-line treatments include sunitinib, temsirolimus, bevacizumab plus interferon, and pazopanib, or high-dose interleukin-2 or sorafenib for selected patients. Recommended second-line treatments include all of the above agents, as well as everolimus and axitinib. Unfortunately, combination therapies have generally resulted in increased toxicity and little improvement in efficacy. Recent studies focused on identification of predictive biomarkers for responses to specific targeted therapies and have not been successful to date. Despite recent advances in targeted treatment for metastatic renal cell carcinoma, important questions regarding biomarkers of efficacy, and optimal combination and sequencing of agents remain to be answered. This paper reviews literature concerned with first-and second-line treatment of metastatic renal cell carcinoma and will discuss key issues in Latin America.