title: Leukopenia as a biomarker of sunitinib outcome in advanced renal cell carcinoma.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Sunitinib is known to cause a variety of adverse events. The aim of the present study was to investigate the prognostic significance of leukopenia for patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) treated with sunitinib.
  
  
  METHODS
  Between December 2008 and January 2012, 44 consecutive patients with advanced RCC were treated with sunitinib. Adverse events that occurred during the study were identified. Cox proportional hazards regression analysis estimated the relative importance of the predictive factors for progression-free survival (PFS).
  
  
  RESULTS
  On multivariate analysis, leukopenia was a significant predictor of PFS (p=0.0185). The cohort with leukopenia comprised of 36 patients (81.8%) and the cohort without leukopenia of 8 patients (18.2%). Patients with leukopenia had a significantly higher response rate (p=0.0062) and significantly longer PFS (p<0.0001) compared to patients without leukopenia.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Leukopenia is an independent, significant prognostic indicator for patients with advanced RCC treated with sunitinib.
authors: Department of Urology, Kitasato University School of Medicine, Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan tfujita@cd5.so-net.ne.jp.
authors: Tetsuo
authors: T
authors: Fujita
authors: Department of Urology, Kitasato University School of Medicine, Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan.
authors: Yoji
authors: Y
authors: Wakatabe
authors: Department of Urology, Kitasato University School of Medicine, Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan.
authors: Kazumasa
authors: K
authors: Matsumoto
authors: Department of Urology, Kitasato University School of Medicine, Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan.
authors: Ken-Ichi
authors: K
authors: Tabata
authors: Department of Urology, Kitasato University School of Medicine, Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan.
authors: Kazunari
authors: K
authors: Yoshida
authors: Department of Urology, Kitasato University School of Medicine, Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan.
authors: Masatsugu
authors: M
authors: Iwamura
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002292:Carcinoma, Renal Cell / Q000097:blood* / Q000188:drug therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007211:Indoles / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D007680:Kidney Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000188:drug therapy*; D007970:Leukopenia / Q000139:chemically induced*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011758:Pyrroles / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D000077210:Sunitinib
chemical_list: D007211:Indoles; D011758:Pyrroles; D000077210:Sunitinib
keywords: Renal cell carcinoma; leukopenia; sunitinib; survival