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KRAS G12C inhibitor

Adagrasib

Krazati · Adagra

KRAS G12C inhibitor · approved 2022 · 6 references

A KRAS-G12C inhibitor whose kidney signal is mostly a creatinine bump and dehydration — but watch for a real glomerular signal.

Signature injury
Prerenal / Hemodynamic AKI
Severity
Mild
Reversibility
Reversible
Onset
Early — within the first weeks of therapy.

Signature kidney injury & incidence

Prerenal / Hemodynamic AKI.

Renal effects are usually mild: a creatinine rise (partly from inhibited tubular creatinine secretion) plus prerenal AKI from GI losses. The KRYSTAL-1 registrational program reported renal-related lab changes; a dedicated PubMed-indexed pseudo-AKI/albuminuria study for adagrasib does not yet exist, so the precise incidence is unquantified.

Source: Jänne et al., NEJM 2022 (KRYSTAL-1)

Reported injury signatures: Prerenal / Hemodynamic AKI, Glomerular Injury / Proteinuria, Pseudo-AKI.

Renal toxicity profile

  1. Prerenal / Hemodynamic AKIPrimary
  2. Glomerular Injury / ProteinuriaSecondary
  3. Pseudo-AKISecondary

Onset timing & rechallenge

Subacute (~1–6 weeks) — Early — within the first weeks of therapy.

Mechanism of kidney injury

Adagrasib can raise serum creatinine partly by blocking tubular creatinine secretion ('pseudo-AKI' without true GFR loss). Clinically meaningful AKI is most often prerenal, from diarrhea/nausea/vomiting–related volume depletion, and the long half-life sustains GI toxicity. A real glomerular/albuminuria signal is increasingly described in real-world experience and should not be dismissed as pure pseudo-AKI without checking the urine.

Clinical presentation

Mild, early creatinine elevation; sometimes new albuminuria. Overt AKI usually accompanies significant GI fluid losses. QTc prolongation and GI toxicity are the other prominent adverse events.

Management

Volume repletion and GI-toxicity control. Distinguish a pure creatinine rise from true GFR decline (cystatin C-based eGFR, measured GFR); check urinalysis for proteinuria/active sediment before attributing change to benign pseudo-AKI. Dose-modify (from 600 mg twice daily) for severe GI, QTc or renal events.

Risk factors

  • Diarrhea/nausea/vomiting with dehydration
  • Concurrent nephrotoxins
  • Pre-existing CKD
  • Other tubular-secretion inhibitors (compounding pseudo-creatinine rise)

Prevention

  • Hydration and early antiemetic/antidiarrheal support
  • Consider cystatin C if pseudo-AKI is suspected

Renal dose adjustment

No dedicated renal dose adjustment is established; standard is 600 mg orally twice daily, modified for GI/QTc/hepatic toxicity. A measured (rather than creatinine-estimated) GFR is preferred when dosing renally cleared co-medications, because adagrasib inflates serum creatinine.

Dialyzability & ESKD dosing

Not characterized; highly protein-bound, hepatically metabolized (CYP3A4) small molecule, unlikely to be appreciably dialyzed. No ESKD dosing guidance exists.

Differential diagnosis

Pseudo-AKI (blocked OCT2/MATE-mediated creatinine secretion, normal cystatin C-based eGFR, bland urine) vs true AKI: prerenal azotemia from GI losses (responds to volume) vs a glomerular lesion (new albuminuria/proteinuria). Cystatin C and urinalysis are the discriminators.

Monitoring

  • Serum creatinine AND cystatin C / measured GFR when true function is in question
  • Urinalysis for albuminuria/proteinuria (do not assume pseudo-AKI)
  • QTc (ECG) given QT-prolongation risk
  • Volume status and GI symptom severity
  • Serum creatinine at baseline and serially on treatment
  • Serum electrolytes alongside QTc

Key trials & series

  • Jänne et al., NEJM 2022 — KRYSTAL-1 NSCLC registrational cohort (renal/creatinine-related AEs)
  • Yaeger et al., NEJM 2022 — KRYSTAL-1 colorectal cohort (± cetuximab)

Clinical pearls

  • Adagrasib raises creatinine partly by blocking its tubular secretion — but confirm with cystatin C and a urinalysis rather than assuming pseudo-AKI.
  • The long half-life sustains diarrhea/nausea; most genuine AKI is prerenal volume depletion.
  • An inflated serum creatinine can cause inappropriate dose reductions of co-administered renally cleared drugs — use measured GFR for those decisions.

Anticancer mechanism

Covalent KRAS G12C inhibitor with a long (~23 h) half-life and CNS penetration, irreversibly trapping mutant KRAS in its inactive GDP-bound state and blocking MAPK signaling in KRAS-G12C–mutated NSCLC and colorectal cancer.

Note

The creatinine increase may overstate true renal impairment via blocked tubular secretion, but real glomerular/albuminuria signals are emerging — so the key teaching point is to check the urine and a cystatin C before concluding it is 'just pseudo-AKI.'

Guidelines & consensus

Each recommendation below is this atlas's faithful summary of the source, not a quotation from it — follow the PubMed link for the wording the society published. Summaries may be superseded; consult the current full text and individualize to the patient.

  • ADQI (2026) — The nephrotoxic effects of anti-cancer therapies: consensus report of the 34th Acute Disease Quality Initiative workgroupProvides expert-based statements (modified Delphi) on preventing and managing cisplatin/platinum-associated AKI, including isotonic IV hydration, attention to volume status and concomitant nephrotoxins, and incorporates evidence that IV magnesium supplementation may reduce cisplatin-associated AKI; emphasizes risk stratification and standardized AKI definitions.Nat Rev Nephrol · PMID 41361704
  • SIRM (2022) — SIRM-SIN-AIOM: appropriateness criteria for evaluation and prevention of renal damage in the patient undergoing contrast medium examinations-consensus statements from Italian College of Radiology (SIRM), Italian College of Nephrology (SIN) and Italian Association of Medical Oncology (AIOM)Recommends eGFR-based renal risk assessment and pre/post-contrast isotonic saline or sodium bicarbonate hydration; advises maintaining a 5-7 day interval between iodinated contrast administration and cisplatin in cancer patients to reduce additive nephrotoxicity.Radiol Med · PMID 35303246
  • KDIGO (2020) — KDIGO Controversies Conference on onco-nephrology: understanding kidney impairment and solid-organ malignancies, and managing kidney cancerIdentifies platinum compounds (especially cisplatin) as leading cytotoxic causes of acute tubular injury, AKI, and electrolyte/magnesium wasting; calls for interdisciplinary onco-nephrology care, accurate GFR estimation, and individualized drug dosing in patients with reduced kidney function.Kidney Int · PMID 33126977
  • KDIGO (2020) — KDIGO Controversies Conference on onco-nephrology: kidney disease in hematological malignancies and the burden of cancer after kidney transplantationAddresses chemotherapy-associated AKI/CKD in hematologic cancer, GFR estimation and chemotherapy dosing in patients with reduced kidney function, and management priorities and research gaps for onco-nephrology care.Kidney Int · PMID 33276867
  • ADDIKD (2025) — Integrating International Consensus Guidelines for Anticancer Drug Dosing in Kidney Dysfunction (ADDIKD) into everyday practiceProvides GRADE-based, drug-specific dose-adjustment recommendations for anticancer agents in kidney dysfunction (illustrated for methotrexate, cisplatin, carboplatin and nivolumab); the recommendations build on Part 1's standardised CKD-EPI eGFR assessment rather than Cockcroft-Gault creatinine clearance.EClinicalMedicine · PMID 40290844
  • ADDIKD (2025) — Aligning kidney function assessment in patients with cancer to global practices in internal medicineThree consensus recommendations: assess kidney function by GFR (measured GFR or CKD-EPI eGFR), classify it using KDIGO categories, and use this uniform approach to dose anticancer drugs — moving cancer medicine away from Cockcroft-Gault estimated creatinine clearance.EClinicalMedicine · PMID 40290845
  • ADDIKD (2025) — A methodology for determining dosing recommendations for anticancer drugs in patients with reduced kidney functionEstablishes that, where RCT evidence is lacking, anticancer drug dosing recommendations in kidney dysfunction should be derived by critically appraising observational literature via GRADE combined with structured international multidisciplinary consensus voting.EClinicalMedicine · PMID 40290846
  • KDIGO (2013) — Diagnosis, evaluation, and management of acute kidney injury: a KDIGO summary (Part 1)Defines/stages AKI by serum creatinine and urine output; emphasizes avoiding nephrotoxins, maintaining euvolemia/perfusion, dose-adjusting drugs to kidney function, and monitoring high-risk patients — the framework applied to nephrotoxic anti-cancer agents.Crit Care · PMID 23394211
  • KDIGO (2024) — Executive summary of the KDIGO 2024 Clinical Practice Guideline for the Evaluation and Management of Chronic Kidney Disease: known knowns and known unknownsEvaluate and risk-stratify CKD, manage to delay progression and its complications, and practise explicit medication management and drug stewardship — the framework the atlas's G1–G5 eGFR banding and every renal dose-adjustment recommendation sit inside. Because the guideline excludes dialysis and transplant recipients by its own statement of scope, its recommendations do not carry to those settings, where this atlas's dialyzability and post-transplant guidance rests on other sources.Kidney Int · PMID 38519239
  • KDIGO (2021) — Executive summary of the KDIGO 2021 Guideline for the Management of Glomerular DiseasesProvides the staging/treatment framework for drug-associated glomerular lesions (e.g., bisphosphonate- and interferon-related collapsing FSGS, VEGF-inhibitor podocytopathy/proteinuria), including immunosuppression and supportive RAAS-blockade strategies.Kidney Int · PMID 34556300
  • KDIGO (2024) — Executive summary of the KDIGO 2024 Clinical Practice Guideline for the Management of ANCA-Associated VasculitisUpdates immunosuppressive induction (rituximab/cyclophosphamide), incorporates avacopan and lower-dose or glucocorticoid-sparing regimens — the management framework for drug- and checkpoint-inhibitor-associated ANCA/pauci-immune glomerulonephritis.Kidney Int · PMID 38388147
  • KDIGO (2024) — Executive summary of the KDIGO 2024 Clinical Practice Guideline for the Management of Lupus NephritisUpdates first-line lupus nephritis therapy to combination immunosuppression with the addition of belimumab or a calcineurin inhibitor (voclosporin) — informs management of immune-complex/lupus-like glomerulonephritis encountered with immunotherapy.Kidney Int · PMID 38182299
  • KDIGO (2025) — Executive summary of the KDIGO 2025 Clinical Practice Guideline for the Management of Immunoglobulin A Nephropathy (IgAN) and Immunoglobulin A Vasculitis (IgAV)Encourages liberal kidney biopsy and stricter proteinuria control (<0.5 g/d, ideally <0.3 g/d) with RAAS blockers, SGLT2 inhibitors, and targeted-release budesonide — the framework for IgA-dominant glomerular lesions, including those triggered by immune-modulating cancer therapy.Kidney Int · PMID 40975525

References

6 peer-reviewed references. Citation metadata via PubMed / NLM.

  1. 1.Adagrasib in Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer Harboring a KRAS G12C Mutation.Jänne PA et al. · N Engl J Med · 2022 · PMID 35658005
  2. 2.Adagrasib with or without Cetuximab in Colorectal Cancer with Mutated KRAS G12C.Yaeger R et al. · N Engl J Med · 2022 · PMID 36546659
  3. 3.Practical Guidance for the Management of Adverse Events in Patients with KRASG12C-Mutated Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Receiving Adagrasib.Zhang J et al. · Oncologist · 2023 · PMID 36892150
  4. 4.The Pharmacologic Inhibition of KRAS Mutants as a Treatment for Cancer: Therapeutic Principles and Clinical Results.Kasper S et al. · Dtsch Arztebl Int · 2025 · PMID 40009739
  5. 5.Acute Kidney Injury Associated with Anticancer Therapies: Small Molecules and Targeted Therapies.Kala J et al. · Kidney360 · 2024 · PMID 39186376
  6. 6.Onconephrology: Update in Anticancer Drug-Related Nephrotoxicity.García-Carro C et al. · Nephron · 2022 · PMID 35717937
Educational monograph from NephTox (nephtox.com). Not medical advice — verify against current guidelines before any clinical decision.