Circulating tumor-derived biomarkers and association with outcomes to immunotherapy in RCC
| Candidate biomarker | References | Year | Country | N | Tumor | Timepoint | Type of systemic therapy | Parameter level/trend indicator | Detection technique | Findings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Circulating tumor cells | Bootsma et al. [106] | 2022 | US | 104 | RCC | Pre-treatment | ICI | High | Nikon Ti-E microscope with automated XYZ stage | Worse OS |
| On-treatment | Increase | |||||||||
| Circulating tumor DNA | Maia et al. [119] | 2017 | Brazil | 34 | RCC | Pretreatment | Different types of systemic therapy, including ICI | College of American Pathology-accredited comprehensive plasma assay | No significant associations | |
| Circulating tumor DNA | Chehrazi-Raffle et al. [120] | 2023 | US | 12 | RCC | Pretreatment | ICI | Median VAFs | TARDIS | Distinguished those achieving PR (0.181%) from those with CR (0.007%) |
| EV microRNA-155-3p | Soleimani et al. [126] | 2024 | Canada | 40 | RCC | Pretreatment | -Ipilimumab plus nivolumab-Pembrolizumab plus axitinib-Avelumab plus axitinib | exoRNeasy serum/plasma midi kitApplied Biosystems TaqMan assaysTaqMan microRNA RT kit + TaqMan miRNA assay | Lower levels in responders |
CR: complete response; ICI: immune checkpoint inhibitors; OS: overall survival; PR: partial response; RCC: renal cell carcinoma; US: United States; EV: extracellular vesicle; miRNAs: micro-ribonucleic acids