Prognostic biomarkers for patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma treated with VEGF-targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitors

Tyrosine kinase inhibitors with activity against vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 are now standard treatment for the majority of patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma. The clinical development of these agents followed by their broad clinical utilization has allowed the creation of large databases to facilitate the identification of prognostic biomarkers and development of prognostic models. While several clinical prognostic models have been created, work continues on identifying novel biomarkers which might be used in conjunction with or even in place of these clinical models. In this review, we discuss the progress thus far in improving on current prognostic models and speculate on possible developments in the near future.