Kidney Cancer Research Summit (KCRS)

Rana R. McKay, MD discusses presentations of interest that were presented at the 2023 Kidney Cancer Research Summit, including a discussion on how PET imaging may identify which patients with renal cell carcinoma may respond to immunotherapy.

A better understanding of tumor biology may be necessary for identifying novel non-immunotherapy–based therapeutic strategies for patients with renal cell carcinoma, according to Rana R. McKay, MD.

Probiotics and other agents targeting fatty acid oxidation are also under evaluation as treatment options for patients with renal cell carcinoma, according to Rana R. McKay, MD.

Other angiogenic agents are also under investigation in renal cell carcinoma, according to Rana McKay, MD, who indicates it will be interesting to see how they compare with belzutifan.

Patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma, and those who have been pretreated with immune checkpoint inhibitors and are naive, saw a benefit with lenvatinib plus pembrolizumab.

Eddy Saad, MD, explained how responses to immune checkpoint inhibitors can be elicited in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma.

The phase 2 ORCHID trial met the respecified end point of Simon stage 1 design for patients with BAP1-mutated renal cell carcinoma.

Better biology is needed to accurately determine risk stratification features in patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma.

Robert J. Motzer, MD, reviews the need for increased studies on the use of immunotherapy in later-line settings for advanced renal cell carcinoma.

In patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma, neoadjuvant immunotherapy–based combinations yielded reductions in tumor size and pathologic necrosis at the time of cytoreductive nephrectomy.

Clear cell renal cell carcinoma is driven by a metabolic switch that decreases VHL and increases ATP, according to an expert from Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Findings from the phase 3 KEYNOTE-564 trial support adjuvant pembrolizumab following nephrectomy as a standard-of-care treatment for patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma.

The improvements occur regardless of PD-L1 status among patients receiving lenvatinib plus pembrolizumab for advanced renal cell carcinoma in the phase 3 CLEAR study.

Using a laser ablation system, imaging mass cytometry is designed to measure over 40 metal isotopes in a tumor sample to identify how immune cells in clear cell renal cell carcinoma are organized.