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KRAS G12C inhibitor

Sotorasib

Lumakras · Sotor

KRAS G12C inhibitor · approved 2021 · 6 references

The first KRAS-G12C inhibitor — renal injury is largely a rat-specific metabolite story, with sparse human signal.

Signature injury
Prerenal / Hemodynamic AKI
Severity
Mild
Reversibility
Reversible
Onset
When AKI occurs, it is acute during the first weeks–months of therapy, typically tracking GI toxicity.

Signature kidney injury & incidence

Prerenal / Hemodynamic AKI.

Clinically significant nephrotoxicity is uncommon and case-level in humans (the dominant on-target/off-tumor toxicity is hepatotoxicity). Proximal tubular toxicity is prominent in rats via a reactive mercapturate-pathway metabolite. Human renal incidence is not well quantified.

Source: Werner et al., Toxicol Appl Pharmacol 2021 (rat mechanism)

Reported injury signatures: Prerenal / Hemodynamic AKI, Acute Tubular Necrosis.

Renal toxicity profile

  1. Prerenal / Hemodynamic AKIPrimary
  2. Acute Tubular NecrosisSecondaryProximal-tubular necrosis localized to the outer stripe of the outer medulla, dose- and time-dependent and tracking urinary tubular-injury biomarkers, driven by a reactive mercapturate/beta-lyase pathway metabolite (mechanistic, Sprague-Dawley rat; species-dependent, informs the human proximal-tubular signal).

Onset timing & rechallenge

Subacute (~1–6 weeks) — Acute AKI during the first weeks to months of therapy, typically tracking GI toxicity.

Mechanism of kidney injury

In Sprague-Dawley rats, sotorasib is bioactivated through the cysteine-conjugate β-lyase (mercapturate) pathway to a nephrotoxic thiol metabolite that concentrates in and damages the proximal tubule (outer-stripe degeneration/necrosis). Human relevance appears limited. Clinically observed AKI is largely hemodynamic/prerenal — from diarrhea/vomiting-related volume depletion — rather than the defining metabolite lesion.

Clinical presentation

Usually no clinically meaningful renal change; transient creatinine rises occur mainly with GI losses and dehydration. The clinically dominant adverse events are transaminase elevation/hepatotoxicity and diarrhea.

Management

Supportive care, volume repletion, and hold/dose-modify for GI toxicity; monitor renal and liver function. Sotorasib carries a major hepatotoxicity signal, so liver monitoring is integral.

Risk factors

  • Volume depletion from diarrhea/vomiting
  • Concurrent nephrotoxins
  • Pre-existing CKD
  • Solid-organ transplant on calcineurin/mTOR inhibitors (drug-interaction risk)

Prevention

  • Manage GI toxicity early
  • Dose-adjust immunosuppressants to their measured levels in transplant recipients (CYP3A/P-gp interactions shift exposure)

Renal dose adjustment

No renal dose adjustment is recommended; sotorasib pharmacokinetics were not meaningfully affected by mild-moderate renal impairment, and severe impairment/ESKD are not well studied. Dose modifications (from 960 mg daily) are driven by hepatotoxicity and GI toxicity, not CrCl.

Dialyzability & ESKD dosing

Not characterized; as a highly protein-bound, hepatically cleared small molecule it is unlikely to be substantially dialyzed. No ESKD dosing guidance is established.

Differential diagnosis

Separate true sotorasib-related AKI from prerenal azotemia of GI fluid loss (responds to volume) and from hepatotoxicity-driven changes; the rat proximal-tubule metabolite lesion has no validated human correlate, so unexplained AKI should prompt the usual onconephrology workup rather than attribution to the drug.

Monitoring

  • AST/ALT and bilirubin before and during therapy (primary safety concern)
  • Hydration/volume status
  • Immunosuppressant trough levels in transplant recipients

Key trials & series

  • de Langen et al., Lancet 2023 — CodeBreaK 200 phase 3 (sotorasib vs docetaxel in NSCLC; safety base rate)
  • Pietrantonio et al., JCO 2025 — CodeBreaK 300 (sotorasib + panitumumab in KRAS-G12C colorectal cancer)

Clinical pearls

  • The headline sotorasib toxicity is hepatic, not renal — but watch volume status, because GI losses drive most observed creatinine bumps.
  • The dramatic proximal-tubule injury is a Sprague-Dawley rat metabolite phenomenon; do not over-attribute human AKI to it.
  • In transplant recipients, sotorasib can collapse tacrolimus/everolimus levels and threaten the graft — a true onconephrology pitfall.

Anticancer mechanism

First-in-class covalent inhibitor that binds the mutant cysteine-12 of KRAS G12C and locks the oncoprotein in its inactive GDP-bound state, blocking downstream RAF-MEK-ERK (MAPK) signaling in KRAS-G12C–mutated non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and colorectal cancer.

Note

The defining renal toxicology is a rat-specific metabolite finding; human renal data remain sparse. A reported transplant drug interaction (markedly reduced tacrolimus/everolimus levels) is an onconephrology-relevant hazard to graft function.

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.Mercapturate pathway metabolites of sotorasib, a covalent inhibitor of KRAS(G12C), are associated with renal toxicity in the Sprague Dawley rat.Werner JA et al. · Toxicol Appl Pharmacol · 2021 · PMID 34004237
  2. 2.Sotorasib versus docetaxel for previously treated non-small-cell lung cancer with KRAS G12C mutation: a randomised, open-label, phase 3 trial.de Langen AJ et al. · Lancet · 2023 · PMID 36764316
  3. 3.Overall Survival Analysis of the Phase III CodeBreaK 300 Study of Sotorasib Plus Panitumumab Versus Investigator's Choice in Chemorefractory KRAS G12C Colorectal Cancer.Pietrantonio F et al. · J Clin Oncol · 2025 · PMID 40215429
  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.