Cabozantinib (CABOMETYX, Exelixis, Inc.) was recently approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma in patients who have received prior antiangiogenic therapy. The approval was based on a randomized study in which patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma, who had received a prior anti-angiogenic therapy, received either cabozantinib (60 mg orally once daily; N = 330) or everolimus (10 mg orally once daily; N = 328) [Approved drugs 2016]. There is increasing evidence that cabozantinib alone or in combination with other medications will be used to treat other cancers and has shown potency and efficacy in clinical preliminary trials. The more potential cabozantinib has, the greater our understanding of cabozantinib-associated cell biology and toxicology profiles should be. Cell biology and toxicology (CBT) profiles mainly include drug efficacy-driven or associated molecular interactions, mechanisms, or adverse effects on cells (Gu and Wang 2016). Cabozantinib as a small molecule receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor, primarily targets ret protooncogene (RET)-encoded receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK), mesenchymal epithelial transition factor (MET), and the vascular endothelial cell growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR2), of which VEGFR2 is more sensitive. Approximately 60 RTK proteins act as high-affinity cell surface receptors for many polypeptide growth factors, cytokines, hormones, and as key regulators of physiological and pathophysiological cellular processes, through the transmembrane and/or non-transmembrane domains (Kano et al. 2016; Li and Hristova 2010). One of the most important factors to influenceCBTprofiles of cabozantinib is the specificity and affinity of RTK binding types and efficacies in various conditions. In addition to bind RET, MET, and VEGFR2, cabozantinib can also inhibit KIT, VEGFR3, TRKB, VEGFR1, AXL, TIE2, and FLT3, in order of the efficacy according to IC50 values. RTK is also known as tyrosine receptor kinase or tyrosine kinase receptor depending on the permutation and has about 17 classes/families involved in major biological function and signaling through the cell membrane. Treatment with cabozantinib decreased tumor and endothelial cell proliferation and growth and increased apoptosis in a number of cancers though the inhibition of MET and VEGFR2 phosphorylation (Yakes et al. 2011). It is also reasonable to postulate the inhibitory effects of cabozantinib on tumor growth through targeting multi-RTKs, of which some may be unexpected. The binding specificity of cabozantinib as the critical part of biological function not only alters drug efficacy and efficiency but also drug side effects and toxicity, in tissues and systems or drug resistance to protein kinase inhibitors. The development of uncontrolled adverse effects and drug resistance of cabozantinib is a potential risk and challenge for clinicians to pay special attention to during application, due to the complex interplay of cabozantinib with multiRTKs, even though clinical trials have demonstrated Cell Biol Toxicol (2016) 32:259–261 DOI 10.1007/s10565-016-9349-6