PI3Kα inhibitor
Alpelisib
Piqray · ALP
PI3Kα inhibitor · approved 2019 · 6 references
PI3K-alpha inhibitor whose on-target hyperglycemia can drive osmotic diuresis and prerenal AKI — a metabolic, not structural, kidney threat.
- Signature injury
- Prerenal / Hemodynamic AKI
- Severity
- Moderate
- Reversibility
- Reversible
- Onset
- Hyperglycemia typically within the first 1-2 weeks; prerenal AKI follows volume depletion or a hyperglycemic crisis.
Signature kidney injury & incidence
Prerenal / Hemodynamic AKI.
Hyperglycemia is essentially on-target and very common: any-grade hyperglycemia ~64% and grade 3/4 hyperglycemia ~36.6% in SOLAR-1, with diabetic ketoacidosis reported rarely in pharmacovigilance. The renal injury is secondary (osmotic diuresis/volume depletion or DKA) rather than a direct lesion; a discrete AKI incidence is not well quantified.
Source: Andre et al., N Engl J Med 2019 (SOLAR-1; 36.6% grade 3/4 hyperglycemia — a metabolic, not renal-injury, rate); Rugo et al., Ann Oncol 2020
Reported injury signatures: Prerenal / Hemodynamic AKI, Electrolyte Disturbance, Acute Tubular Necrosis.
Renal toxicity profile
- Prerenal / Hemodynamic AKIPrimary
- Electrolyte DisturbanceSecondary
- Acute Tubular NecrosisSecondary
Onset timing & rechallenge
Subacute (~1–6 weeks) — Hyperglycemia typically within the first 1–2 weeks; prerenal AKI follows volume depletion or a hyperglycemic crisis.
Mechanism of kidney injury
Clinical presentation
Management
Risk factors
- Baseline diabetes, prediabetes, elevated HbA1c or BMI
- Concurrent glucocorticoids
- Older age and pre-existing CKD
- Inadequate hydration/antihyperglycemic management
Prevention
- Optimize and document fasting glucose and HbA1c before starting
- Patient education on hydration and hyperglycemia symptoms
- Early metformin; SGLT2 inhibitors are increasingly used to blunt the insulin-feedback loop (watch euglycemic DKA)
- Dose interrupt/reduce alpelisib for grade 3/4 hyperglycemia per label
Renal dose adjustment
Dialyzability & ESKD dosing
Differential diagnosis
Monitoring
- Fasting glucose and HbA1c at baseline, then fasting glucose weekly for 2 weeks, every 2 weeks for 8 weeks, then periodically
- Ketones/anion gap if marked hyperglycemia or SGLT2 inhibitor used
- Weight and volume status
Key trials & series
- SOLAR-1 (Andre, NEJM 2019) — registrational RCT defining the grade 3/4 hyperglycemia signal
- Rugo et al. (Ann Oncol 2020) — detailed time-course and management of alpelisib hyperglycemia
Clinical pearls
- Hyperglycemia is on-target, not idiosyncratic — anticipate it in every patient and pre-arm a glucose plan.
- SGLT2 inhibitors are mechanistically attractive (they break the insulin-feedback loop) but risk euglycemic DKA — monitor ketones.
- The kidney injury is hemodynamic: fix the glucose and the volume and the creatinine follows.
- A hyperglycemic crisis (HHS/DKA) is the scenario that converts prerenal azotemia into true ATN.
Anticancer mechanism
Note
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.Alpelisib for PIK3CA-Mutated, Hormone Receptor-Positive Advanced Breast Cancer.Andre F et al. · N Engl J Med · 2019 · PMID 31091374
- 2.Suppression of insulin feedback enhances the efficacy of PI3K inhibitors.Hopkins BD et al. · Nature · 2018 · PMID 30051890
- 3.Time course and management of key adverse events during the randomized phase III SOLAR-1 study of PI3K inhibitor alpelisib plus fulvestrant in patients with HR-positive advanced breast cancer.Rugo HS et al. · Ann Oncol · 2020 · PMID 32416251
- 4.Alpelisib-Induced Diabetic Ketoacidosis: A Pharmacovigilance Analysis of the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System and Review of the Literature.Ziegengeist M et al. · Clin Breast Cancer · 2024 · PMID 38245400
- 5.SGLT2 inhibitors as potentially helpful drugs in PI3K inhibitor-induced diabetes: a case report.Sahakian N et al. · Clin Diabetes Endocrinol · 2021 · PMID 34281618
- 6.Alpelisib-Induced Diabetes Mellitus: Case Report, Pharmacodynamics and Management Considerations.Pla Peris B et al. · Front Endocrinol · 2022 · PMID 35178031
Case reports & series (1)
The weakest rung of clinical evidence — single-patient and small-series reports, strongest first. Each carries a heuristic strength grade (A Strong / B Moderate / C Limited) inferred from its abstract and journal, not a formal appraisal. Weigh well below the primary references above.
- C1.[C · Limited]Tumor lysis Syndrome in a Patient with Metastatic Breast Cancer Treated with Alpelisib.Handy C et al. · Breast Cancer (Auckl) · 2021 · PMID 34483661