The treatment of advanced and metastatic kidney cancer has entered a golden era with the addition of more therapeutic options, improved survival and new targeted therapies. Tyrosine kinase inhibitors, mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitors and immune checkpoint blockade have all been shown to be promising strategies in the treatment of renal cell carcinoma (RCC). However, little is known about the best therapeutic approach for individual patients with RCC and how to combat therapeutic resistance. Cancers, including RCC, rely on sustained replicative potential. The cyclin-dependent kinases CDK4 and CDK6 are involved in cell-cycle regulation with additional roles in metabolism, immunogenicity and antitumour immune response. Inhibitors of CDK4 and CDK6 are now commonly used as approved and investigative treatments in breast cancer, as well as several other tumours. Furthermore, CDK4/6 inhibitors have been shown to work synergistically with other kinase inhibitors, including mTOR inhibitors, as well as with immune checkpoint inhibitors in preclinical cancer models. The effect of CDK4/6 inhibitors in kidney cancer is relatively understudied compared with other cancers, but the preclinical studies available are promising. Collectively, growing evidence suggests that targeting CDK4 and CDK6 in kidney cancer, alone and in combination with current therapeutics including mTOR and immune checkpoint inhibitors, might have therapeutic benefit and should be further explored.

晚期和转移性肾癌的治疗已经进入黄金时代，增加了更多的治疗选择、改善的生存率和新的靶向疗法。酪氨酸激酶抑制剂、哺乳动物雷帕霉素靶点 (mTOR) 抑制剂和免疫检查点阻断均已被证明是治疗肾细胞癌 (RCC) 的有前景的策略。然而，对于个别肾细胞癌患者的最佳治疗方法以及如何对抗治疗耐药性，人们知之甚少。包括肾细胞癌在内的癌症依赖于持续的复制潜力。细胞周期蛋白依赖性激酶 CDK4 和 CDK6 参与细胞周期调节，在代谢、免疫原性和抗肿瘤免疫反应中发挥其他作用。 CDK4 和 CDK6 抑制剂现在通常用作乳腺癌以及其他几种肿瘤的批准和研究性治疗方法。此外，CDK4/6 抑制剂已被证明与其他激酶抑制剂（包括 mTOR 抑制剂）以及临床前癌症模型中的免疫检查点抑制剂具有协同作用。与其他癌症相比，CDK4/6 抑制剂对肾癌的作用研究相对较少，但现有的临床前研究前景广阔。总的来说，越来越多的证据表明，针对肾癌的 CDK4 和 CDK6 单独治疗或与 mTOR 和免疫检查点抑制剂等现有疗法联合治疗可能具有治疗益处，应进一步探索。