Novel therapeutic roles of MC-4 in combination with everolimus against advanced renal cell carcinoma by dual targeting of Akt/pyruvate kinase muscle isozyme M2 and mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 pathways.

Current clinical trials of new anticancer therapies against metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC), including molecular-targeted therapies, have not shown promise. The purpose of this study was to preclinically assess the antitumor effects of MC-4, a partially purified material of Artemisia annua L., as a monotherapy or in combination with the known mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) inhibitor, everolimus, against Caki-1 (Von Hippel-Lindau (VHL)+/+) and 786-O (VHL-/-) human RCC cells.