Efficacy and Safety Analysis of Axitinib Combined with Sintilimab as Second-Line Treatment for Advanced Renal Cell Carcinoma: A Retrospective Study

Background: Targeted therapies, including axitinib, a vascular endothelial growth factor receptor inhibitor, and sintilimab, a programmed cell death protein-1 inhibitor, have shown promise in the treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Although their individual efficacies have been demonstrated, the potential synergistic effects of combining these two agents are still being explored.

Methods: This study retrospectively analysed patients with advanced RCC admitted to our hospital from January 2022 to December 2023. Based on their adopted treatment, the patients were divided into an axitinib group or an axitinib plus sintilimab group. The progression-free survival (PFS), objective response rate, quality of life (QoL) score, laboratory indexes, and adverse reactions of the patients were compared between the two groups.

Results: A total of 34 patients, including 19 who received axitinib alone and 15 who were treated with combined axitinib and sintilimab, were included. The axitinib plus sintilimab group exhibited a significantly higher PFS than the axitinib group (17.00 ± 0.25 months vs 12.15 ± 0.26 months, p < 0.001). The combination treatment group also exhibited superior outcomes in various QoL domains, including physical, role, emotional, and cognitive function, social capabilities, and overall health status/QoL and lesser impacts on fatigue and financial concerns compared to those of the axitinib group. Additionally, the patients in the combination treatment group experienced diminished symptomatology in terms of decreased nausea, vomiting, pain, breathing difficulties, sleep disturbances, appetite reduction, constipation, and diarrhoea. Furthermore, assessment of the haemoglobin, platelet count, serum creatinine, Alanine aminotransferase, and Aspartate aminotransferase values revealed no significant differences between the two treatment groups (p > 0.05). Finally, no significant differences in adverse reaction incidence were observed between the two groups (p > 0.05).

Conclusions: Combination therapy with axitinib and sintilimab demonstrated enhanced anti-tumour activity, improved disease control, and a favourable safety profile, underscoring its potential as a valuable therapeutic approach in advanced RCC management.