Serum level of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) as an independent prognostic factor in metastatic renal cell carcinoma (MRCC)

5044 Background: The French Immunotherapy Group previously showed that circulating interleukin-6 (IL-6) and VEGF correlate with survival in MRCC patients (pts) (Negrier JCO 2004). We aimed to confirm the prognostic value of IL-6 and VEGF, and to test that of macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF) and macrophage inflammatory protein 3-alpha (MIP-3a) for survival in MRCC pts of good and intermediate prognoses. Patients and Methods: Pre-treatment samples were obtained from 302 MRCC pts enrolled in 2 parallel multicenter randomized cytokine trials. Baseline serum levels of IL-6, M-CSF, VEGF, and MIP3a were determined by immunoassays; their prognostic value for progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) was tested. Characteristics of pts with a 0.15 significance level in univariate analysis (ECOG PS, prior therapy, metastatic sites and biological parameters) were entered in a multivariate Cox model. A backward stepwise procedure discriminated non-influential variables at 0.05 level. Result...