SynthesisTargeted oncology2019
Sunitinib for Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Real-World and Clinical Trials Data.
Synthesis in Targeted oncology, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
29 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Pooled it
- Stereotactic body radiotherapy plus sunitinib vs. sunitinib alone in treatment-naive oligometastatic renal cell carcinoma: A phase 2 clinical trial.Cell reports. Medicine · 2026Trial
- Real-world effectiveness of first- and second-line anti-angiogenesis therapy in RCC: analysis of a UK-based population.Future oncology (London, England) · 2024Trial
- Assessing patient risk, benefit, and outcomes in drug development: a decade of vemurafenib clinical trials.Melanoma management · 2025Article
- MAGI3 enhances sensitivity to sunitinib in renal cell carcinoma by suppressing the MAS/ERK axis and serves as a prognostic marker.Cell death & disease · 2025Article
- Renal cell carcinoma with succinate dehydrogenase A mutation: A case report and literature review.Oncology letters · 2025Article
- Adverse reactions of four multi-targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitors: a descriptive analysis of the WHO-VigiAccess database.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2025Article
- Vanishing clear cell carcinoma of the kidney presenting with skin metastases - a case report.Ecancermedicalscience · 2025Article
- Design Principles and Applications of Fluorescent Kinase Inhibitors for Simultaneous Cancer Bioimaging and Therapy.Cancers · 2024Review
- International multicenter real-world REGistry for patients with metastatic renAL cell carcinoma - Meet-URO 33 study (REGAL study).BMC cancer · 2024Observational
- From bench to bedside: the past, present and future of IL-21 immunotherapy.Medical oncology (Northwood, London, England) · 2024Review
- A real-world pharmacovigilance study of FDA adverse event reporting system (FAERS) events for sunitinib.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2024Article
- Review
- Innovative thinking of clinical investigation for rare disease drug development.Orphanet journal of rare diseases · 2023Review
- Dual activity of indolin-2-ones containing an arylidene motif: DNA and BSA interaction.RSC advances · 2023Article
- Efficacy and safety analysis of TACE + sunitinib vs. sunitinib in the treatment of unresectable advanced renal cell carcinoma: a retrospective study.BMC cancer · 2023Article
- Real-world evidence for the long-term effect of allergen immunotherapy: Current status on database-derived European studies.Allergy · 2022Review
- Oral Anticancer Agent (OAA) Adherence and Survival in Elderly Patients With Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma (mRCC).Urology · 2022Article
- Concomitant Use of Sulforaphane Enhances Antitumor Efficacy of Sunitinib in Renal Cell Carcinoma In Vitro.Cancers · 2022Article
- Prognostic value of the ratio of maximum to minimum diameter of primary tumor in metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma.BMC urology · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundRandomized controlled trials (RCTs) have stringent inclusion criteria and may not fully represent patients seen in everyday clinical practice. Real-world data (RWD) can provide supportive evidence for the effectiveness of medical interventions in more heterogeneous populations than RCTs. Sunitinib is a widely used first-line treatment for patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC).
objectiveThis is the first comprehensive meta-analysis to evaluate the efficacy of sunitinib using the novel approach of combining RCTs and RWD.
methodsRCTs and RWD studies published between 2000 and 2017 were identified from PubMed, Ovid, MEDLINE, and EMBASE. Eligible studies contained a cohort of ≥ 50 adult patients with mRCC receiving first-line sunitinib treatment. The meta-analysis combined RWD and RCT treatment groups, adjusting for data type (RCT or RWD). Recorded outcomes were median progression-free survival (mPFS), median overall survival (mOS), and objective response rate (ORR). Publication bias was assessed via review of funnel plots for each outcome measure. A random effects model to account for study heterogeneity was applied to each endpoint. Sensitivity analyses evaluated the robustness of the overall estimates.
resultsOf the 3611 studies identified through medical database searches, 22 (15 RWD studies, 7 RCTs) met eligibility criteria and were analyzed. mPFS (18 studies), mOS (19 studies), and ORR (15 studies) were reported for aggregate measures based on 4815, 5321, and 4183 patients, respectively. Reported mPFS (RWD, 7.5-11.0 months; RCTs, 5.6-15.1 months) and ORR data (RWD, 14.0-34.6%; RCTs, 18.8-46.9%) were consistent with the overall confidence estimates (95% confidence interval [CI]) of 9.3 (8.6-10.2) months and 27.9% (24.2-32.0), respectively. Reported mOS showed greater variation in RWD (6.8-33.2 months) compared with RCTs (21.8-31.5 months), with an overall confidence estimate (95% CI) of 23.0 (19.2-27.6) months. Inspection of funnel plots and sensitivity analyses indicated that there was no publication bias for any efficacy endpoint. Sensitivity analyses showed no evidence of lack of robustness for mPFS, mOS, or ORR. Interpretation of these results is limited by differences in trial design, cohort characteristics, and missing data.
conclusionsThis novel, comprehensive meta-analysis validates sunitinib as an effective first-line treatment for patients with mRCC in both RCTs and everyday clinical practice. The methodology provides a framework for future analyses combining data from RCTs and RWD.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.