Treatment of Stage IV and Recurrent Renal Cell Cancer

First-line treatment of stage IV renal cell cancer may include:

• plus
• plus
• pembrolizumab plus
• nivolumab plus
• radical nephrectomy
• nephrectomy to reduce the size of the tumor in people with certain favorable tumor types
• cabozanitnib
• plus axitinib
• with or without interferon
• interferon
• interleukin-2
• palliative radiation therapy

Second-line treatment may include:

• nivolumab (for people previously treated with sunitinib, pazopanib, sorafenib, and/or axitinib)
• lenvatinib plus (for people previously treated with sunitinib, pazopanib, cabozantinib, axitinib, or sorafenib)
• cabozantinib (for people previously treated with sunitinib, pazopanib, sorafenib, or axitinib)
• axitinib
• everolimus (for people previously treated with sunitinib and/or sorafenib)
• sorafenib
• palliative radiation therapy

Third-line and fourth-line treatment may include:

• for people who have had at least two other types of systemic treatments
• any of the treatments listed for first-line or second-line therapy

Learn more about these treatments in the Treatment Option Overview.

Use our clinical trial search to find NCI-supported cancer clinical trials that are accepting patients. You can search for trials based on the type of cancer, the age of the patient, and where the trials are being done. General information about clinical trials is also available.