Kidney Cancer Research

In the case of kidney cancer, research currently under way includes studies assessing the effectiveness of combining chemotherapy with new treatments (such as stem cell transplantation). Other researchers are searching for a vaccine that can help the immune system find and attack kidney cancer cells. Patients who choose to participate in kidney cancer research studies may be among the first people to benefit from treatments that have shown promise in earlier research.

 

Kidney Cancer Research: An Introduction

Doctors and scientists all over the country are conducting kidney cancer research. Kidney cancer research studies are designed to answer important questions and to find out whether new approaches are safe and effective.
 
In this eMedTV article, "kidney cancer" refers to renal cell carcinoma (also known as renal cell cancer), the most common type of kidney cancer.
 
[Click Wilms' Tumor or Transitional Cell Carcinoma (of the Ureter and Renal Pelvis) for information about other types of kidney cancer.]
 
Kidney cancer research has already led to many advances. However, controlling kidney cancer remains a challenge, and kidney cancer research scientists are continuing to search for more effective ways to treat this disease.
 

Kidney Cancer Research: Current Areas of Focus

Kidney cancer research scientists are currently studying:
 
  • Surgery, biological therapy, chemotherapy, and combinations of these types of treatment.
 
  • Combinations of chemotherapy with new treatments, such as stem cell transplantation. A stem cell transplant allows a patient to be treated with high doses of drugs. The high doses destroy both cancer cells and normal blood cells in the bone marrow. Later, the patient receives healthy stem cells from a donor. New blood cells develop from the transplanted stem cells.
 
  • Cancer vaccines that help the immune system to find and attack kidney cancer cells.
 
(Kidney Cancer Research Continued: Page 2)
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Written by/reviewed by: Arthur Schoenstadt, MD
Last reviewed by: Arthur Schoenstadt, MD