Dr McGregor on the Future Implications of Ongoing Research in RCC

Bradley McGregor, MD, senior physician, clinical director, Lank Center for Genitourinary Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; instructor, medicine, Harvard Medical School, discusses the future implications of evolutions in the current renal cell carcinoma (RCC) treatment paradigm.

In general, McGregor says oncologists have been fortunate in the genitourinary (GU) oncology field, as recent meetings, such as the 2024 Kidney Cancer Research Summit, have consistently delivered notable phase 3 clinical trial data. However, McGregor recalls that the 2024 ASCO Annual Meeting did not offer many transformative findings in the realm of GU. Instead, what was observed were the incremental advancements, he elicits. These steps may seem small, but they are important as oncologists strive to maximize the existing data and uncover meaningful insights from it, McGregor reports.

One notable example is the ongoing exploration of the potential role of the KIM-1 biomarker in the adjuvant setting for RCC, he continues. In the phase 3 IMmotion010 trial (NCT03024996), which investigated adjuvant atezolizumab (Tecentriq) vs placebo in patients with RCC at increased risk of recurrence after resection, high baseline serum KIM-1 levels were associated with a poorer prognosis but improved disease-free survival outcomes with atezolizumab vs placebo. This line of investigation is particularly intriguing because it could help researchers determine which patients might truly benefit from adjuvant therapy, thereby allowing oncologists to tailor treatment strategies more effectively and avoid unnecessary risks for patients, according to McGregor.

Additionally, data have been shared regarding patient-reported outcomes from trials involving enfortumab vedotin-ejfv (Padcev) combined with pembrolizumab (Keytruda), he states. This information is valuable as it enhances the understanding of the patient experience and helps to better gauge the impact of these treatments, McGregor shares.

In summary, although there may not have been many paradigm-shifting results presented at the 2024 ASCO Annual Meeting, there is still progress being made, and findings from ongoing trials may incite larger changes in the future, McGregor concludes.