CDK4/6 inhibitor
Ribociclib
Kisqali · Ribo
CDK4/6 inhibitor · approved 2017 · 6 references
CDK4/6 inhibitor whose creatinine bump is mostly transporter inhibition, with QT prolongation to watch.
- Signature injury
- Pseudo-AKI
- Severity
- Mild
- Reversibility
- Reversible
- Onset
- First cycles (median onset roughly 6 weeks for the creatinine signal); reversible on hold or discontinuation. QTc effects are dose- and concentration-dependent and seen early.
Signature kidney injury & incidence
Pseudo-AKI — representative incidence ~14%.
Like other CDK4/6 inhibitors, ribociclib produces a frequent, reversible creatinine rise via inhibition of tubular creatinine secretion (pseudo-AKI ~14% in a class-effect analysis); clinically meaningful structural AKI is uncommon. A retrospective cohort of palbociclib/ribociclib patients found a >=20% creatinine-clearance decline in about 23%.
Source: Ly et al., J Oncol Pharm Pract 2026 (PMID 39648753 — source of the 14% headline: pseudo-creatinine elevation in 6/43 ribociclib patients, all grade 1-2); Avci et al., Ther Adv Med Oncol 2026 (PMID 41523909 — a different endpoint: ≥20% CrCl decline in 28/120 (23%) of a mixed palbociclib/ribociclib cohort). Most ribociclib creatinine rise is transporter-mediated pseudo-AKI, not structural injury.
Reported injury signatures: Pseudo-AKI, Prerenal / Hemodynamic AKI, Electrolyte Disturbance.
Renal toxicity profile
- Pseudo-AKIPrimaryClass effect: predominant renal signal is pseudo-AKI (creatinine rise from OCT2/MATE inhibition without a real GFR decline); true AKI (acute tubular injury, interstitial nephritis) is rare
- Prerenal / Hemodynamic AKISecondary
- Electrolyte DisturbanceRareHypokalemia/hyponatremia reported but uncommon relative to the near-universal creatinine change
Onset timing & rechallenge
Subacute (~1–6 weeks) — The creatinine signal appears in the first cycles (median onset roughly 6 weeks) and reverses on hold or discontinuation, with QTc effects seen early.
Mechanism of kidney injury
Clinical presentation
Management
Risk factors
- Older age
- Elevated baseline renal indices
- Concurrent QT-prolonging drugs or baseline electrolyte abnormalities
- Strong CYP3A4 inhibitors increasing exposure
Prevention
- Confirm true GFR (cystatin C / measured GFR) before attributing a creatinine rise to nephrotoxicity
- Correct and monitor potassium, magnesium, and calcium before and during therapy
- Baseline and on-treatment ECG; avoid unnecessary QT-prolonging or nephrotoxic co-medications
Renal dose adjustment
Dialyzability & ESKD dosing
Differential diagnosis
Monitoring
- Serum creatinine each cycle (with cystatin-C eGFR if it rises)
- Serum potassium, magnesium, and total/ionized calcium
- ECG/QTc at baseline, ~day 14, and start of cycle 2
- LFTs and CBC per label
Key trials & series
- MONALEESA-2 / MONALEESA-3 / MONALEESA-7 (OS benefit)
- NATALEE (adjuvant)
- Avci Ther Adv Med Oncol 2026 nephrotoxicity cohort
Clinical pearls
- Ribociclib is the CDK4/6 inhibitor most associated with QT prolongation - check Mg/K/Ca, not just creatinine.
- A rising creatinine with a normal cystatin C means keep dosing.
- Strong CYP3A4 inhibitors raise both renal-transporter and QT effects by increasing exposure.
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.Pseudo acute kidney injury in patients receiving CDK4/6 inhibitors.Buijs SM et al. · Br J Cancer · 2025 · PMID 39930149
- 2.Nephrotoxicity secondary to CDK 4/6 inhibitors in advanced breast cancer patients and its impact on survival.Avci T et al. · Ther Adv Med Oncol · 2026 · PMID 41523909
- 3.Renal adverse events associated with cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 inhibitors.Izzedine H et al. · Cancer Treat Rev · 2025 · PMID 41385991
- 4.Evaluation of cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 inhibitor-induced serum creatinine elevations in patients with hormone receptor positive breast cancer.Ly E et al. · J Oncol Pharm Pract · 2026 · PMID 39648753
- 5.Updated Overall Survival of Ribociclib plus Endocrine Therapy versus Endocrine Therapy Alone in Pre- and Perimenopausal Patients with HR+/HER2- Advanced Breast Cancer in MONALEESA-7: A Phase III Randomized Clinical Trial.Lu YS et al. · Clin Cancer Res · 2022 · PMID 34965945
- 6.Onconephrology: Update in Anticancer Drug-Related Nephrotoxicity.García-Carro C et al. · Nephron · 2022 · PMID 35717937
Case reports & series (3)
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.[B · Moderate]Ribociclib induced acute kidney injury: A case report.Gulturk I et al. · J Oncol Pharm Pract · 2021 · PMID 33847193
- C2.[C · Limited]Ribociclib may potentiate rosuvastatin effect in causing late onset rhabdomyolysis.Teo SW et al. · BMJ Case Rep · 2023 · PMID 37696610
- C3.[C · Limited]Lactic acidosis, a potential toxicity from drug-drug interaction related to concomitant ribociclib and metformin in preexisting renal insufficiency: A case report.Lagampan C et al. · Cancer Rep (Hoboken) · 2022 · PMID 34739192
Conference abstracts (1) — non-PubMed, no PMID
- A1.Ribociclib-Induced Pseudo-Acute Kidney InjurySy-Go JPT, Yarandi N, Schwartz GL, Herrmann SM · Journal of Onco-Nephrology · DOI 10.1177/23993693221085285Isolated serum-creatinine rise on ribociclib with a preserved cystatin-C / measured (iothalamate) GFR, confirming pseudo-AKI from CDK4/6 inhibition of tubular creatinine secretion rather than true injury — the drug was continued. Journal of Onco-Nephrology (not PubMed-indexed).