Mesenchymal–Epithelial Transition Kinase Inhibitor Therapy in Patients with Advanced Papillary Renal-Cell Carcinoma: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Papillary subtypes of renal-cell carcinoma (pRCC) represent 10–15% of the cases and commonly have MET alterations. This systematic review and single-arm meta-analysis evaluated MET inhibitor therapy (METi) efficacy and safety in adults with confirmed advanced pRCC. The search strategy included PubMed, Web-of-science, Cochrane, and Scopus. We used the DerSimonian/Laird random effect model for all analyses; p-value < 5% was considered significant, and heterogeneity was assessed with I2. Three clinical trials and six cohort studies were included with 504 patients; 31% were MET-driven. Our pooled analysis demonstrated an objective response rate (ORR) in MET-driven, MET-independent, and overall patients of: 36% (95%CI: 10–62), 0% (95%CI: 0–3), and 21% (95%CI: 1–41), respectively. One-year disease control and progression-free survival rates were, respectively, 70% (95%CI: 52–88) and 15% (95%CI: 10–20). Twelve- and twenty-four-month survival rates were, respectively, 43% (95%CI: 23–64) and 10% (95%CI: 0–30). The prevalence of adverse events of any grade and grades 3–5 were 96% (95%CI: 91–100) and 44% (95%CI: 37–50), respectively. We suggest METi has anti-tumor activity and is tolerable in patients with advanced pRCC.