BETHESDA, Maryland—The National Cancer Institute’s Kidney/Bladder Cancer Progress Review Group has released 13 priority recommendations intended to serve as a national plan to guide research in the two diseases over the next 5 years. The recommendations cover basic and translational research, cancer control, and cancer treatment, and range from understanding the biologic mechanisms underlying the two diseases to developing innovative strategies to eradicate them.
"The priorities have an important synergy in that progress in one area will bolster progress in others," the NCI review group report said. "Supporting priorities in only one or two areas will not be enough to advance our knowledge and understanding of these cancers. We must make a commitment to research along the entire continuum."
The review group—co-chaired by Peter Jones, PhD, of the University of Southern California Cancer Research Center, and Nicholas J. Vogelzang, MD, of the University of Chicago Cancer Research Center—was one of a series of such committees appointed by former NCI director Richard D. Klausner, MD. NCI has now deferred naming any new program review groups pending an evaluation of the reports already made.
"The priorities outlined in this report are a blueprint for progress toward preventing, diagnosing, and treating kidney and bladder cancers," Dr. Jones and Dr. Vogelzang wrote in the introduction to the report.
The recommendations cover four general areas: Discovery, translational research, treatment, and cancer control.
Discovery
1. Understand the biologic mechanisms underlying the risk factors for kidney and bladder cancer phenotypes. "Novel prevention and treatment strategies may result from improved understanding of such mechanisms," the report said.
