Research

Dr. Toni Choueiri and Dr. Rizwan Romee received a KCA research award in 2021 for their project “Adoptive cytokine-induced memory-like natural killer cell therapy alone or in combination with avelumab for immunotherapy-refractory advanced renal cell carcinoma.” This technique could represent a new type of immunotherapy treatment Choueiri, Romee, and Dr. Vincent Xu, shared an update on their research, which has…

Update 3/27/25: Why We Must Restore Funding For the CDMRP Update 3/24/25: Kidney cancer will not receive any funding this year through the CDMRP. A recent STAT News article summarized the far-reaching impacts of the "devastating" 57% cuts to the CDMRP, which, instead of reducing some funding for the 35 disease research programs supported by the CDMRP, eliminated funding for…

We rounded up a few research highlights from the 2025 ASCO Genitourinary Cancers Symposium (ASCO GU), held recently in San Francisco, California. Three-drug combo superior to two drugs for advanced RCC Advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) patients (855 people) given a combination of cabozantinib, nivolumab, and ipilimumab had longer progression-free survival compared with patients given nivolumab and ipilimumab plus a placebo –…

Oncology Decoded is a new podcast covering cancer research and how care providers might apply new ideas to their clinical practice with patients. Hosts Dr. Manojkumar Bupathi of Rocky Mountain Cancer Centers and Dr. Ben Garmezy of Sarah Cannon Research Institute are both medical oncologists who care for patients with genitourinary cancers (kidney, prostate, bladder) and conduct research. We spoke…

Attendees at the inaugural Advanced Urologic Cancer Consensus Conference (AUC3) met in Miami, Florida on January 23-24 to agree on optimal diagnostic and management strategies for kidney and bladder cancers. “Tremendous progress has been made in the treatment of patients with advanced urologic cancers, but experts believe critical questions remain that are unable to be answered by robust prospective clinical…

Angela Cappello, PhD, received a 2024 KCA Trailblazer Award for research on "Drugs resistance mechanisms guided by amino acids catabolism in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC)." Dr. Capello is part of the Interdisciplinary Department of Medicine at the University of Bari "Aldo Moro" in Bari, Italy. We spoke with her about her research and the impact it could have…

This year, the Kidney Cancer Association made headway on multiple research initiatives across a range of focus areas. Here are our top 10 achievements in 2024. Research Breakthroughs Patient-Centered HRQOL Measures for mRCC - Through KCA funding, Dr. Cristiane Bergerot of Grupo Oncoclinicas in Brazil has developed a patient-centered health-related quality of life (HRQOL) measure tailored to metastatic renal cell…

Several researchers who received funding from the Kidney Cancer Association published exciting new findings in 2024 based on their work. These papers and presentations are the important work of better understanding how kidney cancer works and uncovering new and more effective ways to treat it. Read on for a summary of these publications. New kidney cancer-specific quality of life tool…

Dr. Yuexin Xu received a 2024 Kidney Cancer Association Trailblazer Award for research on "Characterization of tumor endothelial STAB1-mediated Treg recruitment into renal cell carcinoma." Dr. Xu is a researcher based at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington. This is the second research grant Dr. Xu has received from the KCA. We spoke with her about her research…

Dr. Laura Bukavina received a 2024 Kidney Cancer Association Trailblazer Award for research on "Assessing the Presence and Impact of Micro- and Nanoplastics Role in Renal Cell Carcinoma". Dr. Bukavina, a translational surgeon-scientist, is assistant professor of Urologic Oncology at the Cleveland Clinic Glickman Urologic Institute and translational science lead in GU oncology at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine…