Concomitant renal cell carcinoma and chronic myelogenous leukemia: use of a targeted approach

Numerous therapeutic options have been introduced for metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mrcc) in recent years, including monoclonal antibodies such as bevacizumab and small-molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitors such as sunitinib and sorafenib. Similarly, several other small-molecule inhibitors—including imatinib, dasatinib, and nilotinib—have been approved for the treatment of chronic myelogenous leukemia (cml). The combination of these targeted agents is an area of intense clinical investigation. Here, we describe a patient diagnosed with mrcc while on imatinib therapy for cml. Treatment of this patient with the combination of bevacizumab and imatinib led to a 6-month period of stable disease, with no treatment-related adverse events. More extensive clinical exploration of this combination of agents may therefore be warranted.