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CSF1R inhibitor

Pexidartinib

Turalio · PEX

CSF1R inhibitor · approved 2019 · 5 references

CSF1R inhibitor for tenosynovial giant cell tumor with boxed hepatotoxicity — renal effects are secondary (cholestatic illness, dehydration), not a direct nephropathy.

Signature injury
Prerenal / Hemodynamic AKI
Severity
Mild
Reversibility
Reversible
Onset
Hepatotoxicity can occur early (often within the first 1-2 months) or later; secondary renal effects track the severity of the systemic/hepatic illness.

Signature kidney injury & incidence

Prerenal / Hemodynamic AKI.

The defining toxicity is serious, sometimes cholestatic, hepatotoxicity (boxed warning, REMS program); hair-color change, fatigue and GI effects are common. Direct nephrotoxicity is not a recognized signal, and renal effects are secondary (dehydration during illness, hepatorenal physiology in severe liver injury).

Source: Tap et al., Lancet 2019 (ENLIVEN); Lewis et al., Oncologist 2020

Reported injury signatures: Prerenal / Hemodynamic AKI.

Onset timing & rechallenge

Variable / unpredictable — Hepatotoxicity may occur early or later, and secondary renal effects track the severity of the systemic/hepatic illness rather than a fixed onset.

Mechanism of kidney injury

Pexidartinib has no characteristic direct renal lesion. Its renal relevance is indirect: severe hepatotoxicity (mixed/cholestatic, occasionally with ductopenia) can cause systemic illness, reduced intake and, in the most severe cases, hepatorenal-type physiology with prerenal azotemia and functional AKI. Routine GI toxicity and anorexia contribute to volume depletion. CSF1R inhibition also affects tissue macrophages broadly, but a specific renal injury is not established.

Clinical presentation

Rising transaminases and bilirubin (cholestatic pattern), fatigue, hair-color change, nausea; renally, a prerenal creatinine rise during severe hepatobiliary illness or dehydration rather than an acute structural lesion.

Management

Manage hepatotoxicity per REMS: interrupt/discontinue for protocol-defined liver-test elevations and treat supportively. For secondary prerenal AKI, restore volume and treat the underlying illness; in severe cholestatic liver injury, manage hepatorenal physiology with volume expansion and specialist input. Renal effects generally reverse as the hepatic/systemic illness resolves.

Risk factors

  • Baseline hepatic dysfunction
  • Concurrent hepatotoxic or nephrotoxic drugs
  • Volume depletion from GI toxicity
  • Pre-existing CKD

Prevention

  • Avoid concurrent hepatotoxins; maintain hydration
  • Prompt drug interruption for transaminase/bilirubin elevations per thresholds

Renal dose adjustment

The label recommends a reduced starting dose for mild-to-severe renal impairment (CrCl 15-89 mL/min); the other critical dose modifications are for hepatotoxicity, which predominates in hepatic metabolism.

Dialyzability & ESKD dosing

Highly protein-bound; not expected to be dialyzable. No established ESKD dosing.

Differential diagnosis

Distinguish secondary prerenal/hepatorenal AKI (volume-responsive, in the setting of severe liver injury) from intrinsic renal causes and from other drug nephrotoxicity. The dominant clinical event is hepatic, not renal.

Monitoring

  • Liver tests (AST, ALT, bilirubin) frequently per REMS schedule
  • Volume status and serum creatinine during hepatic/systemic illness
  • Electrolytes with GI toxicity
  • Signs of jaundice/cholestasis

Key trials & series

  • ENLIVEN (Tap, Lancet 2019) — registrational RCT defining efficacy and the boxed hepatotoxicity
  • Lewis et al. (Oncologist 2020) — characterization of pexidartinib hepatic toxicity

Clinical pearls

  • The story here is the liver — a boxed hepatotoxicity warning with a REMS program; the kidney is collateral.
  • Severe cholestatic injury can produce hepatorenal-type prerenal AKI; treat with volume and source control.
  • No characteristic direct pexidartinib nephropathy exists.
  • Hair-color change (depigmentation) is a benign but characteristic on-target effect.

Anticancer mechanism

Oral inhibitor of colony-stimulating-factor-1 receptor (CSF1R), with activity against KIT and FLT3-ITD. In tenosynovial giant cell tumor (TGCT), CSF1 overexpression recruits CSF1R-bearing macrophage-lineage cells that form the tumor; CSF1R blockade depletes this population.

Note

The renal link is indirect: there is no direct pexidartinib nephrotoxicity. AKI, when it occurs, is secondary to severe (cholestatic) hepatotoxicity and dehydration. No pexidartinib-specific renal paper exists; class/onconephrology context is cited.

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

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

  1. 1.Pexidartinib versus placebo for advanced tenosynovial giant cell tumour (ENLIVEN): a randomised phase 3 trial.Tap WD et al. · Lancet · 2019 · PMID 31229240
  2. 2.Pexidartinib Long-Term Hepatic Safety Profile in Patients with Tenosynovial Giant Cell Tumors.Lewis JH et al. · Oncologist · 2020 · PMID 33289960
  3. 3.Pexidartinib: first approved systemic therapy for patients with tenosynovial giant cell tumor.Gelderblom H et al. · Future Oncol · 2020 · PMID 32700568
  4. 4.ENLIVEN study: Pexidartinib for tenosynovial giant cell tumor (TGCT).Tap WD et al. · Future Oncol · 2020 · PMID 32755241
  5. 5.Supporting patients in the transition to the revised pexidartinib dosing regimen: perspectives from the multidisciplinary clinical and allied health professional team.McCabe M et al. · Orphanet J Rare Dis · 2023 · PMID 37805596
Educational monograph from NephTox (nephtox.com). Not medical advice — verify against current guidelines before any clinical decision.