Research

An $8.4 billion "Immunology Medical Research & Cures Initiative" in California that would boost cutting-edge immunology research to prevent and cure cancer and other debilitating diseases has officially qualified for the state's November 2026 ballot, giving voters the chance to advance life-saving research for patients and families. Gretchen E. Vaughan The Kidney Cancer Association signed on in support of this…

We rounded up a key research highlights from the 2026 American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting, held recently in Chicago, Illinois. Dr. Ritesh Kotecha, Dr. Salvatore La Rosa, Maggie Valdes, Gabriela Galvan. Dr. Salvatore La Rosa, Dr. Dan George. Gabriela Galvan, Radha Chitale, Dr. Arpita Desai. The KCA team attends the 2026 ASCO meeting. Novel Compounds and Treatment Strategies Panitumumab could improve…

This is an excerpt from the blog "Uneven Terrain: How Local Real-World Insights Can Improve Kidney Cancer Outcomes" by Komodo Health. The Kidney Cancer Association partners with Komodo Health, an AI-powered life sciences company uncovering the complex factors that contribute to the patient journey. Read the detailed report: "Uneven Terrain: Using Real-World Evidence to Understand Regional Differences in Kidney Cancer".…

The Kidney Cancer Association’s Clinical Advisory Board summarized highlights from the 2026 ASCO Genitourinary Cancers Symposium, held in San Francisco, CA on February 26-28. Emily Wang, PharmD, BCOP, Julia Batten, APRN, MSN, MPH, and Renata Penafiel, MPAS, PA-C reviewed key sessions and provided clinical insights useful for the whole care team. If you learned something new, be sure to share this…

This is a guest post by Avanthika Rajendran, the Kidney Cancer Association's Legislative Advocacy Intern. What Is Legislative Advocacy? Legislative advocacy is about educating decision-makers and helping them understand how public policy decisions impact the people and communities we care about. Kidney cancer advocates from New York visiting Capitol Hill in Washington DC to speak with representatives about funding kidney…

We rounded up a few research highlights from the 2026 ASCO Genitourinary Cancers Symposium (ASCO GU), held recently in San Francisco, California. Altitude can affect oxygen-related side effects from belzutifan The approval of the hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF-2a) belzutifan by the FDA offered a new treatment option for kidney cancer patients that harnessed the cellular mechanism by which cells can adapt to environments…

This is a research highlight from the 2026 ASCO Genitourinary Cancers Symposium (ASCO GU), held recently in San Francisco, California. Belzutifan (Welireg, made by Merck), the most recently approved kidney cancer drug (2021 and 2023) that uses a new biological method to treat disease, has progressed to clinical trials using it in combination with existing immunotherapy and targeted therapies at different times…

This is a guest post by the tRCC Project, a collaborative research project of the Broad Institute, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and Boston Children’s Hospital. *This post contains preliminary data based on current tRCC Project participants; it is not final or comprehensive. At the Translocation Renal Cell Carcinoma (tRCC) Project, we are driven by three primary goals:  defining the molecular landscape…

The Kidney Cancer Association holds its annual International Kidney Cancer Symposium (IKCS) North America meeting each November. Some members of KCA's Clinical Advisory Board (CAB) attended the meeting to review the sessions and provide an overview for the entire kidney cancer clinical team. Read on to learn more! Multi-functional NPs (MINPs) can target both renal cell carcinoma (RCC) tumors, while…

Supporting scientific and medical research is a core pillar of the KCA's mission. We're proud to share our top 10 initiatives from 2025 that are driving discovery, building partnerships, and translating science into patient engagement to shape the future of kidney cancer research. Scientific Advancements Driving discovery and shaping the future of kidney cancer research. 1. New Treatment Strategy for…