The effect of concomitant beta-blocker use on survival in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma treated with a vascular endothelial growth factor receptor inhibitors in the first line

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) inhibition is one of the cornerstones of treatment in the treatment of metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC). Since RCC is a disease of advanced age and hypertension as a side effect of VEGF receptor inhibitors, beta-blocker use is common in these patients. We aimed to compare the treatment efficacy and survival results in case of concomitant use of these two drugs due to the inhibition of VEGF in beta-blockers.

A total of 121 patients with a diagnosis of mRCC who used sunitinib or pazopanib in first-line therapy were included in the study. These patients were divided into two groups as those using concomitant beta-blockers and those not using them.

The median overall survival (mOS) of the patient using sunitinib or pazopanib and concomitant beta-blocker was 47 (95% CI 29.0–65.0) months, and the mOS of those not using concomitant beta-blocker was 18 (95% CI 8.9–27.1) months (p < 0.001). The median progression-free survival (mPFS) of the patients using sunitinib or pazopanib and concomitant beta-blocker was 20.4 (95% CI 4.5–40.1) months, and the mPFS of those not using it was 11.4 (95% CI 5.9–16.9) months (p = 0.042). Concomitant beta-blocker use was found to be a good prognostic factor for OS in the multivariate analysis (p = 0.029). In the multivariate analysis, concomitant beta-blocker use had a trend towards statistical significance for PFS (p = 0.062).

Concomitant use of betablockers with sunitinib or pazopanib is associated with longer overall survial and progression free survival.