The Kidney Cancer Research Summit (KCRS) 2024 was held July 11 and 12, and brought together leading kidney cancer experts to present breakthrough research and treatment innovations. Hosted by KidneyCAN, the summit featured presentations and discussions focusing on various aspects of renal cell carcinoma (RCC), from novel drug targets to advanced imaging modalities and immunology disease progression.
The summit started with a welcome from Bryan Lewis, president of KidneyCAN, followed by a keynote lecture. The Keynote, How the Air We Breathe Can Affect Cancer by Charles Swanton from The Francis Crick Institute, addressed the environmental factors affecting cancer development, emphasizing the impact of air pollution on cancer risk and progression.
KCRS 24 Session 1: New drug targets for RCC
The session on novel drug targets for the management of patients with RCC was moderated by Dr. Pavlos Msaol (MD Anderson Cancer Institute) and Dr. Scott Tykody (Fred Hutchinson Cancer Institute). This session revealed new treatment option and included:
- Jean Jiang (University of Texas Health San Antonio) discussed the potential of purinergic receptor antagonist therapies in the treatment of mRC.
- Elizabeth Henske (Brigham & Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School) identified novel therapeutic strategies for chromophobe RCC.
- Abhishek Chakraborty (Cleveland Clinic Foundation) explored targeting the antiapoptotic BCL-XL protein in kidney cancer.
- Neil Bhowmick (Cedars-Sinai Medical Center) presented SETD2 deficiency as a therapeutic target to upregulate viral mimicry in treating aggressive clear cell RCC.
KCRS 24 Session 2: Novel Imaging and Biomarkers in RCC
The session on novel imaging and biomarkers for RCC was chaired by Dr. Katy Beckermann (Vanderbilt University Medical Center) and Dr. Stephanie Berg (Dana-Farber Cancer Institute). This session highlighted advancements in imaging and biomarker discovery:
- Xiankai Sun (University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center) and Neil Bhowmick (Cedars-Sinai Medical Center) discussed PET imaging of HIF-2a in renal cancer.
- Jeremiah Morrissey (Washington University in St. Louis) detailed multiplexed quantification of urinary biomarkers for noninvasive classification of imaged kidney tumors.
- Christopher Weight (Cleveland Clinic Foundation) introduced multimodal AI-based renal cancer patient care.
- Valisha Shah (Dana-Farber Cancer Institute) examined shared heritability between RCC and hematopoietic-related phenotypes.
KCRS 24 Session 3: State of the Science
State of the Science sessions was moderated by Dr. Rohit Mehra (University of Michigan) and Dr. Payal Kapur (University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center). The session focused on the current scientific understanding of RCC:
- Samson Fine (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center) provided insights into the taxonomic evolution of kidney cancer.
- Michelle Hirsch (Brigham & Women’s Hospital) discussed technological advances in surgical pathology.
- Payal Kapur presented the prognostic and predictive biomarkers in kidney cancer.
- Sabina Signoretti (Brigham and Women’s Hospital) offered diagnostic updates and therapeutic implications for sarcomatoid RCC.
- Rohit Mehra discussed the role of pathologists in kidney cancer diagnostics and research.
KCRS 24 Session 4:Trials in Progress
Dr. Robert Motzer (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center) and Dr. Naomi Haas (Abramson Cancer Center/University of Pennsylvania) chaired the session trials in progress. This session provided updates on ongoing clinical trials:
- Michael Serzan (Dana-Farber Cancer Institute) discussed the ARCITECT trial.
- Rana McKay (University of California, San Diego) presented a Phase 1b study combining HC-7366 with Belzutifan in advanced RCC.
- Pavlos Msaouel (MD Anderson Cancer Center) detailed a Phase II trial of Ubamatamab in MUC16-expressing RCC.
- Clara Steiner (Dana-Farber Cancer Institute) introduced a pilot study of an implantable microdevice for in vivo drug response evaluation.
- Toni Choueiri (Dana-Farber Cancer Institute) presented a Phase 2 study of pembrolizumab with V940 for RCC.
- Grant Stewart (University of Cambridge) discussed the WIRE clinical trials platform.
KCRS 24 Day 2: Friday, July 12
Obesity and Immunotherapy
The session on obesity and immunotherapy explored the relationship between obesity and immunotherapy, highlighting how metabolic factors can influence treatment outcomes. The featured speaker was Dr. Jeffrey Rathmell (Vanderbilt University Medical Center).
KCRS 24 Session 5: Clinical and Scientific Updates
TDr. Toni Choueiri (Dana-Farber Cancer Institute) moderated the session on clinical and scientific updates. This session featured updates on treatment strategies:
- Thomas Powles (Barts Cancer Centre) discussed frontline systemic therapy strategies.
- Robert Motzer provided insights into subsequent treatment lines for advanced disease.
- Bradley McGregor (Dana-Farber Cancer Institute) explored adjuvant treatment options.
- Laurence Albiges (Institut Gustave-Roussy) presented strategies for non-clear cell RCC.
- Rana McKay discussed novel therapies outside immunotherapy.
- David Braun (Yale Cancer Center) introduced novel immunotherapy strategies.
KCRS 24 Session 6: Immunotherapy Advances and Research
The session on immunotherapy advances and research was chaired by Dr. Hans Hammers (UT Southwestern Medical Center) and Dr. David McDermott (Beth Israel Deaconess). This session covered immunotherapy advancements:
- Michael Atkins (Georgetown-Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center) provided an overview of immunotherapy development.
- Rizwan Romee (Dana-Farber Cancer Institute) discussed the mechanisms of adoptive NK cell therapy.
- Srinivas Malladi (University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center) delineated tumor-immune contexture in ccRCC.
- Jonathan Powell (Calico Labs) presented the update on clinical trials and preclinical research.
- David Braun (Yale Cancer Center) discussed tumor-immune microenvironmental determinants of immunotherapy response.
KCRS 24 Session 7: Oral Abstract Presentations
alifornia, San Diego) and Dr. Yuksel Urun (Ankara University School of Medicine) moderated the session’s oral abstract presentations. This session featured various research findings:
- Laurence Albiges presented a subgroup analysis of the LITESPARK-005 study.
- Toni Choueiri discussed the safety profile of Belzutifan monotherapy.
- Bradley McGregor reported the outcome of CDK4/6 inhibition with Abemaciclib.
- Eddy Saad (Dana-Farber Cancer Institute) examined the association of an IL7 SNP with immune-related adverse events.
- Karl Semaan (Dana-Farber Cancer Institute) discussed liquid biopsy epigenomic profiling.
- Nazli Dizman (MD Anderson Cancer Center) reported the impact of CBM588 on gut microbiome composition.
KCRS 24 Session 8: Rapid Abstract Presentations
Dr. Tom Powles and Dr. Evita Sadimin (City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center) moderated the rapid abstract presentation session. This session provided deep insights into emerging research:
- Nicholas Salgia (Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center) discussed the tertiary lymphoid structures in sarcomatoid RCC.
- Roy Elias (Johns Hopkins) discussed tumor evolution of brain-specific tropism in metastatic RCC.
- Regina Barragan-Carrillo (City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center) reported the impact of Latino ethnicity on the gut microbiome.
- Vivien Moritz (Yale School of Medicine) highlighted impaired NK cell cytotoxicity in advanced RCC.
- Soki Kashima (Yale School of Medicine) introduced an ex vivo patient-derived tumor model.
- Shahla Bari (Duke University) discussed fasting-mediated gut microbiome modulation.
- Samer Salem (Brigham and Women’s Hospital) presented the role of ferroptosis suppressor protein 1 in chromophobe RCC.
- Chinmay Jani (Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center) discussed concordance analysis of tissue and circulating tumor DNA.
- Renee Maria Saliby (Dana-Farber Cancer Institute) evaluated intermediate endpoints for overall survival in metastatic RCC.
- Miso Kim (Seoul National University Hospital) highlighted the combined efficacy of Anti-LAG 3 and Anti-PD-1 in patients with RCC.
KCRS 24 Specialized Session- Biotech Showcase
The Biotech Showcase session, moderated by Dr. Tom Powles and Dr. Hans Hammers, highlighted the latest innovations from leading biotech companies.
- Dimitry Nuyten from Arcus Biosciences presented the role of Hif-2-alpha inhibitors, Lu Gan from Scholar Rock discussed latent TGFβ1 inhibitors, and Alex Azrilevich from Synthekine, Inc. introduced α/β IL-2 receptor-biased partial agonists.
- Other notable presentations included Chet Bohac from Xencor on bispecific antibodies and Levi Gray-Rupp from ArsenalBio on novel cell therapies.
KCRS 24: Research Highlights
- A Phase 1b, Open-Label, Safety, Tolerability, and Efficacy Study of HC-7366 in Combination with Belzutifan (WELIREGTM) in Patients with Advanced or Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma, NCT06234605
- WIRE: Window of Opportunity Clinical Trials Platform for Evaluation of Novel Treatments Strategies in Renal Cell Cancer
- Safety profile of belzutifan monotherapy in patients with renal cell carcinoma: A pooled analysis of 4 clinical trials
- A Phase 1 study of fianlimab (anti–LAG-3) in combination with cemiplimab (anti–PD-1) in patients with advanced ccRCC
- A multi-center, open-label phase II study of lenvatinib plus pembrolizumab (LEAP) in renal cell carcinoma patients with brain metastasis previously treated with immune checkpoint blockade
- Clinical Pharmacokinetic/ Pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) Relationship Confirms Best-in-class Potential of Casdatifan (AB521), a Small Molecule Inhibitor of HIF-2α Being Developed in Renal Cancer
- Applying single cell RNA sequencing of sarcomatoid renal cell carcinoma for the development of a novel transcriptomic biomarker to predict immunotherapy response
- INTerpath-004: A phase 2, randomized, double-blind study of pembrolizumab with V940 (mRNA4157) or placebo in the adjuvant treatment of renal cell carcinoma
- PET Imaging of HIF-2a in Renal Cancer
- Ferroptosis Suppressor Protein 1 is a Potent and Targetable Inhibitor of Ferroptosis in Chromophobe Renal Cell
- SWOG S2200 (PAPMET2): A phase II randomized trial of cabozantinib (cabo) with or without atezolizumab (atezo) in patients with advanced papillary renal cell carcinoma (PRCC)
KCRS24 concluded with awards recognizing excellence in kidney cancer research, including AACR-KidneyCAN grants and merit awards. This scientific achievement underscored the collaborative efforts driving advancements in understanding, diagnosing, and treating kidney cancer. The summit highlighted the critical role of innovation and collaboration in improving patient outcomes and quality of life, marking a pivotal moment in kidney cancer research.
