Targeted radiation helps patients with kidney cancer?delay systemic therapy?
MD Anderson Research Highlight September 04, 2025
Some patients with?clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) ¨C the most common type of kidney cancer?in adults ¨C experience oligometastatic disease, where the cancer has spread to only a few sites. Patients with oligometastatic ccRCC often are treated with whole-body systemic treatments like?immunotherapy?and targeted therapy, which?are?effective but can come with unwanted side effects. A Phase II clinical trial led by , and?,?explored the use of metastasis-directed targeted?radiation therapy?to avoid or delay systemic treatments. In a cohort of 121 patients, survival remained high, with 94% of patients alive at two years and 87% at three years. Overall, patients went a median of 34 months without needing systemic treatment. Researchers also used a novel circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) test to look for traces of cancer. Patients with no detectable disease stayed off systemic treatments twice as long as those with detectable traces,?which suggests that this marker may help select patients for this treatment strategy in the?future. These data originally were presented at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2025 in April. Updated data can be found in .?
This patient-centric trial offering de-escalation therapy allows patients a chance to preserve their quality of life, stay off systemic therapy, and maintain excellent cancer control. Furthermore, the presented ctDNA biomarker offers the chance for a personalized approach in patient selection.