A new vaccine is being heralded as a ‘game changer’ for some types of cancer. The vaccine works by telling the body to hunt down cancer cells and prevent the cancer from coming back. The vaccine has been developed using similar technology to the COVID-19 vaccines, messenger RNA or mRNA. The vaccine is called mRNA-4157 (V940). It has been developed to target proteins on the tumour cells, called neoantigens. Neoantigens are markers on the tumour cells, which can potentially be recognised by the immune system. This triggers the immune system to fight back against the patient’s specific type of ca ..read more

The treatment of heavily pretreated patients with metastatic kidney cancer is an unmet medical need and is challenging. This study looked at the effectiveness and safety of the lenvatinib plus everolimus combination for the treatment of metastatic kidney cancer patients who had previously been treated for their kidney cancer with one or more anti-cancer medicines. The study looked at real world data from patients who received the lenvatinib plus everolimus combination as a second treatment or beyond. In total, 33 patients from Italy were assessed. Six in 10 patients had been treated with three ..read more

Surgery (partial or radical nephrectomy) is the standard of care for large, high-risk kidney cancers that have not spread outside the kidney. The cancer can come back (recurrence) after nephrectomy in some patients. Adjuvant therapy is additional treatment that is taken after surgery to reduce the risk of the cancer from coming back. Clinical trials with vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) that block the blood supply to the cancer have shown little benefit for patients for stopping the cancer from coming back after surgery. However, immunothera ..read more

Yesterday (16 April 2024) Cancer52, an alliance of over 100 charities representing rare and less common cancers, launched The Other Half. A manifesto to transform outcomes for people with rare and less common cancers. The event was hosted by Will Quince MP at the House of Commons, Westminster. Action Kidney Cancer was represented at the event by Sharon Deveson Kell. A number of member charities, MPs, and stakeholders joined Cancer52 in the House of Commons. Patient representatives also attended and several were met by their constituency MPs. Together we formed a collective voice for action on ..read more

Papillary renal cell carcinoma (pRCC) is the most common subtype of non-clear cell kidney cancer. People with papillary RCC are often excluded from large phase 3 trials, which focus on the more common form of kidney cancer, clear cell RCC.  Therefore, treatment options for non-clear cell kidney cancers are limited. The aim of this study was to look at the effectiveness of immunotherapy combinations compared to TKIs for the treatment of previously untreated patients with papillary RCC. This study used real-world data collected from patients with advanced papillary RCC treated in 40 hospita ..read more

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy is a type of immunotherapy that changes T cells so they are able to recognise and attack cancer cells. T cells are immune system cells that play several key roles in the body’s fight against disease. They help the immune system respond to disease and they attack and kill abnormal cells. Unfortunately, naturally occurring T cells in patients with cancer are not good at recognising and fighting cancer cells. Results from a study in America have shown that more than 80% of patients with advanced kidney cancer benefited from CAR T cell therapy. T ..read more

A recent study looked at the use of a combination of immunotherapy plus cabozantinib as a second treatment for patients with metastatic kidney cancer compared to cabozantinib alone in the real world. The study used data from a large real-world US-based database and looked at patients diagnosed with metastatic kidney cancer who were treated with any immunotherapy-based combination as a first treatment followed by a second treatment with either cabozantinib alone or in combination with immunotherapy. There were 348 patients in the study. However, this study showed no additional benefit of adding ..read more

This article published in Time online shares some useful tips from kidney cancer patients about how to manage anxiety and depression following a kidney cancer diagnosis. Read the full article in Time here The post How to manage anxiety and depression when you have kidney cancer appeared first on Action Kidney Cancer ..read more

A recent real world study has found that giving immunotherapy to previously untreated kidney cancer patients or stereotactic radiotherapy or surgery (focal therapy) improved overall survival time for patients with spread of their cancer to the brain (brain metastases). In this real world study of 389 patients with brain metastases, overall survival time was nearly two years and nine months for patients who were treated with immunotherapy combinations, compared with nearly one year and eight months for patients treated with a tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI). For patients treated with stereotact ..read more

Renal medullary carcinoma (RMC) is a rare and aggressive cancer that occurs in young people of African descent with sickle cell trait. Unlike renal cell carcinoma (RCC), where nearly 8 in 10 patients survive for 5 years or more, only 5 in 100 patients with RMC survive beyond 3 years with standard anti-cancer medication. Patients with RMC respond poorly to treatments that are effective for other kidney cancers. There is, therefore, an urgent unmet need for more effective treatment for this devastating disease. There were 5 patients in this study, all with RMC that had spread. All patients ha ..read more