Interferon-alpha plus capecitabine and thalidomide in patients with metastatic renal cell cancer.

Thirty patients with progressive metastatic renal cell carcinoma were treated. Eleven patients received 2 or more prior systemic therapies; 2 had a complete response, 7 had a partial response, and 11 had stable disease. The complete responders are off therapy and remain without disease recurrence. The median duration of response was 3.8 months (range 1 - 48+ months). Therapy was well tolerated; predominant toxicities were fatigue, paraesthesias and hand/foot syndrome. The data suggest that the combination of interferon-alpha, thalidomide and capecitabine has anti-tumor activity in previously treated patients with progressive metastatic renal cell carcinoma. A prospective investigation of this combination warranted.