Dr. Ball on Eventual Role of Immunotherapy in Patients With RCC

Mark Ball, MD, chief urology resident, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, discusses the eventual role that immunotherapy will play in the treatment landscape of renal cell carcinoma (RCC), as well as patient selection to receive immunotherapy as a single agent or in combination.

Immunotherapy is here to stay, Ball explains. While anti—PD-1 checkpoint blockades have shown encouraging findings, other blockades are under investigation—such as LAG3 and CTLA-4.

Additionally, biomarker studies will be conducted in order to help researchers determine which patients are most eligible to receive these immunotherapy agents, both alone and in combination. Currently, researchers are examining a study that is exploring predictive biomarkers response to anti—PD-1 therapy in RCC.