For subsequent lines of therapy, some case reports describe promising effects of PD-1 or PD-L1 inhibitors in nccRCC including sarcomatoid subtype and Bellini duct carcinoma.
The findings of our study suggest that nivolumab may be effective even if the patient has highly progressive CDC with a low PS, if PD-L1 is highly expressed in the tumor cells.
On the other hand, PD-L1 positivity by TIMC was observed in 57 (56.4%) patients: 13/36 (36.1%) of chromophobe RCC, 30/50 (60%) of papillary RCC, 9/10 (90%) of Xp11.2 translocation RCC and 5/5 (100%) of collecting duct carcinoma.