Program

Kidney Cancer Program

The HCC Kidney Cancer Program performs innovative basic research into the molecular basis of kidney tumors. Our scientific efforts focus on identifying meaningful biomarkers for early detection and prognosis, underlying mechanisms of disease biology, novel therapeutic targets for the various kidney cancer populations, and improved preclinical models for preliminary validation of these findings.  

Recent, High-Impact Publications

  • Adjuvant Pembrolizumab plus Belzutifan for Renal-Cell Carcinoma.

    Choueiri TK, Motzer RJ, Karam JA, Yip W, Suárez C, Ye D, He Z, Caglevic C, Ferguson T, Chang YH, Rojas C, Iacovelli R, Ürün Y, Verzoni E, Vázquez Limón JC, Porta C, Uzzo RG, Lee JL, Venugopal B, McKay RR, Hammers H, Miyake H, Chahoud J, Liu H, Burgents JE, Sharma M, Powles TB,

    The New England journal of medicine 2026; 395(1):32-43.PubMed(opens in new window)
  • Casdatifan shows durable response linked to HIF-2α biology in kidney cancer.

    Choueiri TK, Merchán J, Patnaik A, Drakaki A, Rini BI, Rha SY, Lee JL, Ornstein MC, Kumar R, Hwang C, Shao Y, Park SH, Barata PC, McGregor BA, Foster P, Chen J, Eisen M, Cole H, Weeder B, Guan Y, Singh J, Kaplan A, Cho S, Markus R, Kabbarah O, McKay RR

  • Phase II Randomized Trial of Radium-223 Dichloride and Cabozantinib in Patients With Renal Cell Carcinoma With Bone Metastases: RADICAL (Alliance A031801).

    McKay RR, Ballman KV, Atherton PJ, Ajmera A, Al Baghdadi T, Baumann BC, Beltran H, Berg S, Chen RC, Choudhury AD, Cole S, Jacene HA, Lang JM, Kilari D, Kwok Y, McGregor B, Morris MJ, Parikh M, Swami U, Tan A, Yang YA, Zhang T, Galsky M, Rosenberg J, George D, Choueiri TK

    Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology 2026; JCO2601135.PubMed(opens in new window)
  • Genomic correlates of clinical CAR T cell activity.

    Leick MB, Sun B, Birocchi F, Gallagher KME, Bratt A, Han S, Martin G, Silva HJ, Larson RC, Chinsky TM, Chu H, Reilly CR, Kann MC, Choi BD, Camp S, Gillani R, Phillips M, Kienka T, Bailey SR, Graham CE, Jan M, Moore NS, Horick N, Budka J, Filosto S, Williams CM, Hosseini Rad A, Shen RR, Van Allen E, AlDubayan S, Maus MV

    Science Immunology 2026; 11(121):eaef4134.PubMed(opens in new window)
  • Ruxolitinib for Ciltacabtagene Autoleucel-Associated Refractory Diarrhea.

    Blumenberg V, Birocchi F, Shih A, Escobar G, Mucci A, Armstrong A, Cirstea DD, Harris DL, Bozym DJ, Puliafito BR, Newcomb RA, Dhawale TM, Johnson PC, El-Jawahri A, Jeffrey R, Barselau A, Li A, Emmanuel-Alejandro E, Cook D, Lindell KA, Luk SO, Chaffee R, Yee AJ, Branagan AR, Raje NS, Graham C, Hammond SP, Bushman FD, Roche AM, Reddy S, McFarland AG, Chen YB, Choi BD, Mount CW, Dougan M, Nardi V, Sohani A, Gallagher KME, Maus MV, Frigault MJ, Leick MB

  • Advanced Urologic Cancer Consensus Conference (AUC3) 2025: Expert consensus on the management of renal cell and urinary tract cancers.

    McKay RR, Pal S, Xie W, Aggen D, Albiges L, Apolo A, Atkins MB, Bangs R, Beckermann KE, Bellmunt J, Berg SA, Bilen MA, Braun D, Carlo MI, Efstathiou J, Galsky M, Grivas P, Gupta S, Haas N, Hakimi AA, Hammers H, Heng DYC, Hirsch M, Iyer G, Jonasch E, Koshkin VS, Kryvenko O, Lewis B, Li R, Matin S, Maughan B, McDermott DF, McGregor B, Meeks J, Milowsky M, Motzer R, Necchi A, Petrylak D, Porten S, Powles T, Rini B, Shuch B, Siefker-Radtke A, Sonpavde G, Sridhar SS, Suarez C, Tang C, Tripathi A, Van Der Heijden MS, Voss M, Xu W, Zhang T, Rosenberg J, Choueiri TK

    CA: a cancer journal for clinicians 2025; 76(1):e70052.PubMed(opens in new window)
  • Targeting of HIF2-driven cachexia in kidney cancer.

    Abu-Remaileh M, Stransky LA, Bhalerao N, Shirole NH, Jiang Q, Saad E, Machaalani M, Vigeant SM, Woldemichael H, Xu C, Lu J, Wei H, Liu Z, Sun W, Enomoto K, Choueiri TK, Pitarresi JR, Carr SA, Udeshi ND, Kaelin WG

    Nature medicine 2025.PubMed(opens in new window)
  • Myeloid cells mediate interferon-driven resistance to immunotherapy in advanced renal cell carcinoma.

    Bi K, Kashima S, Camp SY, Meli K, Saad E, Titchen BM, Labaki C, Bakouny Z, Pimenta EM, Park J, Shannon E, Fu J, Xirenayi S, Horst J, Lum L, Ishizuka JJ, Choueiri TK, Braun DA, Van Allen EM

  • Targeting FSP1 to induce ferroptosis in chromophobe renal cell carcinoma.

    Salem S, Han T, Alchoueiry M, Mahmoud N, Bzeih W, Chami J, Khabibullin D, Mansour H, Tang Y, Ho TH, Ubellacker JM, Priolo C, Henske EP

  • Quantitative functional profiling of ERCC2 mutations deciphers cisplatin sensitivity in bladder cancer.

    Börcsök J, Gopaul D, Devesa-Serrano D, Mooser C, Jonsson N, Cagiada M, Stormoen DR, Ataya MN, Guercio BJ, Kaimakliotis HZ, Iyer G, Lindorff-Larsen K, Dyrskjøt L, Mouw KW, Szallasi Z, Sørensen CS

    The Journal of clinical investigation 2025; 135(16).PubMed(opens in new window)

Kidney Cancer Program Members

Members