Higher dietary intake of vitamin E may decrease the risk of renal cell carcinoma (RCC), new findings suggest.

In a meta-analysis of 7 case-control studies involving 5,789 cases and 14,866 controls, Yonggang Shang, MD, and colleagues at the Third Military Medical University in Chongquing, China, found that, overall, the highest dietary intake of vitamin E was associated with a significant 25% decreased risk of RCC compared with the lowest intake.

In European populations, the highest dietary intake of vitamin E was associated with a significant 42% decreased risk of RCC, the investigators reported in the Journal of Renal Nutrition(2015;25:339-344). The researchers found no association between dietary vitamin E intake and RCC risk in North American populations. The significant inverse association between dietary vitamin E intake and RCC risk did not differ by gender.
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The mechanisms by which vitamin E impacts cancer risk are unknown, but vitamin E is a well known antioxidant that has been reported to inhibit tissue lipid peroxidation, apoptosis, 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine formation, and cancer development, the authors pointed out. In addition, it plays an important role in protecting DNA from fragmentation.

Nivolumab (Opdivo) has received FDA approval for treating patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC) whose disease advanced despite prior treatment with an anti-angiogenic agent.

“Opdivo provides an important therapy option for patients with renal cell carcinoma,” Richard Pazdur, MD, director of the Office of Hematology and Oncology Products in the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said in a press release. “It is one of few therapies that have demonstrated the ability to extend patients' survival in treating this disease.”

Temsirolimus, which was approved in 2007, is the only other FDA-approved treatment shown to improve overall survival in patients with metastatic RCC, according to the agency.

The safety and efficacy of nivolumab were demonstrated in an open-label, randomized study of 821 patients with advanced RCC whose disease worsened during or after treatment with an anti-angiogenic agent. Patients were treated with nivolumab or everolimus (marketed as Afinitor). 

The nivolumab arm had significantly longer survival than the everolimus arm (average 25 vs. 19.6 months). In addition, 21.5% of nivolumab recipients experienced complete or partial shrinkage of their tumors compared with 3.9% of subjects receiving everolimus.

Nivolumab is marketed by Bristol-Myers Squibb of Princeton, N.J.