About biological therapy for kidney cancer

Biological therapies are treatments made from natural substances from the body, or that block signals telling cells to grow. You can find out about biological therapies in our cancer treatment section.

There are several different types of biological therapy used for advanced kidney cancer. The next page in this section looks at the different biological therapy drugs for kidney cancer.

Biological therapies may be used for advanced kidney cancer or in trials to try to prevent kidney cancer coming back after surgery. Some new drugs are also being developed and used in trials. On this page you can read about 

• Biological therapy for advanced kidney cancer
• Preventing kidney cancer coming back after surgery
• New biological therapy drugs

Biological therapies are mostly used to try to shrink or control advanced kidney cancer and help people to live longer. There are several different biological therapies for kidney cancer. These drugs can often stop or slow the growth of the cancer for months or sometimes years. Different treatments work for different patients. Your doctor will look at your general health to decide on the best treatment for you. 

Sunitinib (Sutent) is the most commonly prescribed first treatment for advanced kidney cancer. Other commonly used drugs are sorafenib (Nexavar) and pazopanib (Votrient). They are drugs that block cancer growth signals in cells and are called tyrosine kinase inhibitors. You take them as tablets.

Other drugs that your doctor may use include bevacizumab (Avastin) as a drip (intravenously) that you have with interferon. You have interferon as an injection just under the skin three times a week.

If your treatment stops working and the cancer starts growing again your doctor may prescribe a second type of treatment (second line treatment). This may include one of the drugs above. Or your doctor may recommend that you have everolimus (Afinitor) or temsirolimus (Torisel). These drugs also block signals that tell cancer cells to grow. They are called mTOR blockers.

There is detailed information about the biological therapy drugs used for kidney cancer on the next page in this section.

Currently there are no treatments that can reduce the chance of kidney cancer coming back after surgery. But a lot of research is currently being done to see whether biological therapies can do this. Drugs given after surgery are called adjuvant treatment. You may be offered the chance to have a biological therapy as part of a clinical trial. 

You can find out about some trials on our clinical trials database. Go to the advanced search and choose 'kidney cancer' from the dropdown menu of cancer types and 'biological therapy' from the list of treatment types. If you want to see all the trials, tick the boxes for closed trials and trial results.

Researchers are developing newer types of biological therapies and these are also being tested in clinical trials. There is information about research into some new biological therapy drugs in the kidney cancer research section. If you have advanced kidney cancer you might be offered one of these newer therapies as part of a clinical trial.

Each biological therapy drug has its own side effects. Most people taking these drugs have tiredness (fatigue). Depending on the drug you are taking, other side effects may include diarrhoea, skin rashes, and sore hands and feet. Your doctor or nurse will discuss the side effects with you and will advise you how to manage them.