Sunitinib does not impair natural killer cell function in patients with renal cell carcinoma

Moeckel,Jennifer; Staiger,Nina; Mackensen,Andreas; Meidenbauer,Norbert; Ullrich,Evelyn

doi:10.3892/ol.2017.6187

Sunitinib does not impair natural killer cell function in patients with renal cell carcinoma

Authors:
- Jennifer Moeckel
- Nina Staiger
- Andreas Mackensen
- Norbert Meidenbauer
- Evelyn Ullrich
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Affiliations: Department of Internal Medicine 5, Hematology and Oncology, University Hospital Erlangen, Friedrich‑Alexander University Erlangen‑Nuremberg, D‑91054 Erlangen, Germany, LOEWE Center for Cell and Gene Therapy, Goethe University Frankfurt, D‑60590 Frankfurt, Germany
Published online on: May 17, 2017 https://doi.org/10.3892/ol.2017.6187
Pages: 1089-1096

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Abstract

Although the available treatment options have expanded, the survival of patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC) remains poor. As patients with RCC lack responsiveness to chemotherapy or radiation, therapeutic options predominantly include surgical interventions and immunomodulatory approaches, including the administration of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) such as sunitinib. Natural killer (NK) cells have been reported to be key players in TKI-mediated off‑target effects on the immune system. However, only limited information is available regarding the possible impact of sunitinib on the function of NK cells of individual patients. The present study reports on the immunomonitoring results of three patients with metastatic RCC who underwent sunitinib treatment. These results were compared with age‑matched, healthy controls in terms of the immune status of T, B and NK cells, focusing on functional in vitro analyses of NK cells. In all three patients, NK cell number, subset distribution and function, as measured by cluster of differentiation 107a degranulation, did not exhibit any significant alterations as a result of sunitinib treatment. These results indicate that sunitinib does not negatively affect NK cell function, which supports the pursuit of therapeutic modalities that combine immunomodulation and NK cell-stimulating approaches.

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