CURE's Clinical Trial Corner: Kidney Cancer Edition

As the treatment landscape continues to grow for kidney cancer, patients and their caregivers should be aware of the various clinical trials currently being conducted — particularly those they can possibly join.

Here is a list of active clinical trials currently underway in the kidney cancer space.

Immunotherapy with Opdivo (nivolumab) and Yervoy (ipilimumab) Followed by Opdivo or Opdivo with Cabometyx (cabozantinib) for Patients with Advanced Kidney Cancer

As part of the PDIGREE study, researchers in this phase 3 trial are comparing the standard combination of Yervoy and Opdivo followed by Opdivo alone to a new treatment of Yervoy and Opdivo, followed by the combination of Opdivo and Cabometyx.

Because immunotherapies like Opdivo and Yervoy have been shown to help the body fight cancer using its own immune system, the trial, which is being conducted in more than 600 locations, aims to determine whether the addition of a chemotherapy drug, such as Cabometyx, can improve outcomes.

Personalized Cancer Vaccine Plus Tecentriq (atezolizumab) Immunotherapy in Locally Advanced or Metastatic Cancer

Some cancers may be considered inoperable, or incurable by standard therapies. In this phase 1 study offered by Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, researchers are investigating a personalized cancer vaccine that is formulated to resemble the individual’s disease, in the hopes that the patient’s immune system will attack the tumor. Some patients will receive this vaccine in increasingly larger doses to determine the highest dose, while others will also receive Tecentriq in addition to this vaccine.

This study is also enrolling patients with non-small cell lung, triple-negative breast, colorectal, head and neck cancer and bladder cancers.

Opdivo in Patients Undergoing Nephrectomy

In kidney cancer, treatment sometimes involves nephrectomy, which is the removal of part or all of the kidney. Researchers conducting this phase 3 trial in multiple sites around the country are examining the use of the immunotherapy Opdivo in patients with kidney cancer at two different points: before surgery, to possibly shrink the tumor, thereby reducing the amount of tissue to be removed during nephrectomy, and after surgery, to increase survival.

CDX-1140 Immunotherapy in Patients with Advanced Cancer

This phase 1 study was created to determine the highest dose of the investigational immunotherapy drug CDX-1140 that can be given safely to patients. Researchers are currently enrolling patients with advanced solid tumors that have grown back or continue to grow, with melanoma, bladder/urothelial, non-small cell lung, pancreatic, breast, colorectal, gastric, esophageal, kidney, liver, ovarian, head and neck or bile duct cancer.

CDX-1140 is being examined because other drugs like it have been shown to trigger a patient’s immune system to fight against tumors, according to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, where this trial is being conducted.

WST-11 Light-Activated Therapy

While photodynamic therapy can be used to treat cancer by applying laser light to a tumor after a drug is injected into the body, its side effects can often be painful and troublesome to patients. This phase 1 study being held at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center is investigating a new approach called vascular-targeted photodynamic therapy, where the drug stays only in blood vessels instead of spreading to all cells, and also leaves the body faster.

This trial will specifically look at the different doses of laser light to be used in therapy for patients with persistent kidney and ureter cancers.