Original Article Hand–Foot Skin Reaction is Associated with the Clinical Outcome in Patients with Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma Treated with Sorafenib

Background: To elucidate whether Hand–Foot skin reaction could become a biomarker of clin-ical outcome in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma treated with sorafenib, we retro-spectively examined the association between the Hand–Foot skin reaction and the clinical outcome in metastatic renal cell carcinoma patients treated with sorafenib. Methods: Thirty-six Japanese metastatic renal cell carcinoma patients treated with sorafenib were enrolled and divided into the groups with or without Hand–Foot skin reaction. Patient char-acteristics, best tumor response, progression-free survival and adverse events were investi-gated and compared between these two groups. Results: A sorafenib-induced Hand–Foot skin reaction in metastatic renal cell carcinoma patients was observed at a significantly higher rate in patients in the favorable-risk group in the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center risk classification, and with Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Performance Status of one or less, prior nephrectomy, higher hemoglobin, lower lactate dehydrogenase and lower C-reactive protein. The mean best tumor response was significantly better in the group with Hand–Foot skin reaction (216.7%) than that in the group without it (17.9%; P, 0.001). The median progression-free survival was significantly longer i