A phase II trial of melphalan or thioguanine in the treatment of patients with advanced renal cell cancer

Sixty-one ambulatory patients with advanced or unresectable renal carcinoma were treated with either melphalan (41 patients) or thioguanine (20 patients). Two objective partial responses were observed in the melphalan cohorts for a response rate of 4.9% (exact 95% confidence interval, 1–17%). No patients treated with thioguanine responded. One patient died of hemorrhage on the melphalan arm. There were no treatment-related deaths on the thioguanine arm. Other than the one death, there were no unexpected or irreversible toxicities. Myelosuppression was the most frequent toxicity. These agents have no meaningful activity in the treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma.