Sunitinib

Author: Prof. Dr. med. Peter Altmeyer

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Last updated on: 29.10.2020

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Definition
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Receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor.

Pharmacodynamics (Effect)
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Sunitinib (like sorafenib) is a targeted tumor therapy and blocks the tyrosine kinase of the receptors PDGFR (platelet-derived-growth-fctor). Furthermore, sunitinib inhibits the tyrosine kinase of VEGFR (vascular endothelial growth factor - see below VEGF) and c-Kit. It also inhibits some serine threonine kinases (multi-kinase inhibitors). Sunitinib thus switches off the signalling effect of growth factors at the molecular level, which the tumour needs for its growth.

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Indication
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Used to treat non-resectable and/or metastatic malignant gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) when treatment with imatinib (Gleevec) has failed due to resistance or intolerance. Another indication is metastatic renal cell carcinoma.

Undesirable effects
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The major serious side effects of sunitinib are pulmonary embolism (1% of cases), thrombocytopenia (1%), neutropenia with fever (0.4%), and hypertension (0.4%). The most commonly reported adverse events were fatigue/exhaustion (the so-called fatigue syndrome), which affects about one-third of patients. Frequently (>20% of cases), diarrhoea, nausea, stomatitis continue to occur.

Typical side effects on the skin organ are observed from the 3rd-4th week of treatment:

  • Hand-foot syndrome
  • Xerosis of the skin
  • diffuse effluvium with alopecia
  • subungual haemorrhages (splinter hemorrhages)
  • Depigmentation of skin and hair
  • periocular edema.

Preparations
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Sutent®

Literature
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  1. Wozel G et al (2010) Undesirable dermatological effects in therapeutic inhibition of the VEGF pathway. JDDG 8: 243-249

Outgoing links (3)

Hand-foot syndrome; Sorafenib; Vegf;

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Last updated on: 29.10.2020