In the past, there are limited treatment options for people with advanced kidney cancer. These patients tend to have poor outcomes. In recent years, the emergence of novel combination treatments, such as the combination of nivolumab and ipilimumab, have prolonged the survival of some patients. However, there are a still a subpopulation of patients who do not respond to these combination treatments.
Nivolumab is a human IgG4 anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody used in the treatment of several cancers such as inoperable or metastatic melanoma, metastatic squamous non-small cell lung cancer, primary or metastatic urothelial carcinoma, and renal cell carcinoma. It works by blocking a signal that would have prevented activated T cells from attacking the cancer. Ipilimumab is a also monoclonal antibody and it activates the immune system by a protein that downregulates that immune system, CTLA-4. (Cusabio offers polyclonal antibody.)
Evidence shows that immunotherapy agents improve the survival and life quality of some kidney cancer patients, but almost have no effects in other patients. A lot of research groups are conducting clinical trials to test the effectiveness of a new immunotherapy combination: nnivolumab and other investigational immunotherapy agent. One such group is from Rush University Medical Center. They analyzed blood samples of cancer patients receiving immunotherapy treatments in order to identify immune-biomarkers in the blood that can be used to indicate the presence of a disease, or predict patients’ response to a treatment. But the interactions between a tumor and the body’s immune system are complex. Identifying a immune-biomarker is not a easy task. More research is needed to solve this problem.
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