The treatment of kidney cancer currently includes use of agents that target the immune system and also that inhibit tumor blood vessel formation. These treatments can help many patients with metastatic kidney cancer, but, unfortunately, not all patients benefit, and most patients who respond eventually experience progression of their cancer. Our main goal is to increase the options for patients with kidney cancer. We feel strongly that more treatment options will mean longer and better survival for our patients.

We have identified a new immune pathway (HHLA2) that helps tumors evade our immune system and that is present in many patients with kidney cancer and that is clearly distinct from the PD-1 pathway. We have made antibodies to block this immune inhibitory pathway and hope to develop them to be ready and optimized for clinical trials. The plan is for a treatment that can slow tumor growth in metastatic patients. Our data suggest that it could help people who do not respond or stop responding to standard PD-1 immune therapy. It is also likely that our new agents could be effective in combination with PD-1 inhibitors.

The relevant points we will address are: What are the best antibodies to slow tumor growth? If successful, by the end of our three-year grant period, we will be ready to launch trials in RCC patients to, first, assess safety and side effects, and then, to study the ability of our new antibodies to slow disease progression and shrink tumors. The innovative part of the project is that we will study a pathway that, while present in kidney cancer patient tumors, has never been tested. We also have new and innovative means to optimize the treatment in the form of a newly generated panel of antibodies to target the most relevant biologic immune effects.

If we develop a new treatment for kidney cancer we will be able to have more options for our patients including for Service Members, their families, Veterans, and the American public. This proposal clearly addressed the FY20 Kidney Cancer Research Program areas of emphasis including development of novel therapeutics for kidney cancer and the study of kidney cancer microenvironment and immunology.