Association of circulating kidney injury molecule-1 with outcome of adjuvant immunotherapy for renal cell carcinoma in IMmotion010

Adjuvant immunotherapy is currently the standard of care for patients with resected renal cell carcinoma, but there are no biomarkers available to guide treatment. Post hoc analysis of the phase 3 IMmotion010 trial (adjuvant atezolizumab versus placebo in resected RCC) found that elevated post-nephrectomy KIM-1 levels are prognostic for worse disease-free survival (HR 1.68; 95% CI 1.35-2.09) and predictive for atezolizumab efficacy (0.72; 0.52-0.99). Increase in KIM-1 level during follow-up was associated with worse DFS compared to no increase in KIM-1 level. The authors conclude that these results suggest that KIM-1 might be a biomarker for minimal residual disease in RCC.