Concomitant Acute Tubular Necrosis and Acute Interstitial Nephritis Induced by Tipifarnib in a Patient with Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Lung

Tipifarnib is a novel targeted treatment for hematologic malignancies that is being recently studied for the treatment of advanced solid organ tumors with HRAS mutations. There have been scarce reports on kidney adverse events in initial phase I and II trials. We present a case of acute kidney injury in a patient that had started treatment with tipifarnib for advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the lung. Kidney biopsy revealed acute tubular necrosis together with acute interstitial nephritis. Tipifarnib was discontinued and the patient was started with high-dose corticosteroids with an early taper completing a five-week steroid course, with full recovery of kidney function.

Automated summary

This case report highlights acute kidney injury in a patient receiving tipifarnib therapy for squamous cell carcinoma of the lung. High-dose corticosteroids were successful in achieving full recovery of kidney function within a five-week period.