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Disease

Kidney Neoplasms

Late-stage therapeutic developmentActively researchedCooling momentum
48
Publications
18
Clinical trials
11
Related conditions
6
Related treatments
9
Related proteins
2026
Latest publication
Current focus
Antibodies biologyNivolumab biologyTherapeutic developmentInflammation & immunity
Latest activity
beta

Recent clinical, regulatory, research and industry developments relating to this disease.

Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors in Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma (ccRCC).

Research2025-06-11International journal of molecular sciences

PD-1 immunology in the kidneys: a growing relationship.

Research2024-10-23Frontiers in immunology

Renal Cell Carcinoma: A Review.

Research2024-09-01JAMA

Applications of artificial intelligence in urologic oncology.

Research2024-05-01Investigative and clinical urology

What's happening now

An analyst briefing on current research, clinical, regulatory and industry activity surrounding this disease.

Executive briefingUpdating summary…Momentum: Moderate
Key developments
  • 2 clinical trials expected to report results, the earliest in Q4 2026.
  • Active recent publication activity, including 2 notable findings.

Research-associated treatments

Drugs and agents co-studied with this disease across the research literature — associative, not necessarily established treatments. Number shows shared papers.

Clinical trials

11 sponsors · 1 new · 0 completed in the last 12 months (net +0)

The current development programme across all trial phases.

Clinical programme
18
All trials
4
Active
4
Late-stage
6
Completed
Late-stage studies
Recently completed

Research activity

48 papers

Key research shaping understanding of this disease, combining the latest publications with the most influential evidence.

Publications over time
20142026
Most influential

Intratumor heterogeneity and branched evolution revealed by multiregion sequencing.

The New England journal of medicine · 2012 · 5,974 cites

Nivolumab versus Everolimus in Advanced Renal-Cell Carcinoma.

The New England journal of medicine · 2015 · 4,442 cites

Nivolumab plus Ipilimumab versus Sunitinib in Advanced Renal-Cell Carcinoma.

The New England journal of medicine · 2018 · 3,404 cites

Pembrolizumab plus Axitinib versus Sunitinib for Advanced Renal-Cell Carcinoma.

The New England journal of medicine · 2019 · 2,427 cites

Phase I study of single-agent anti-programmed death-1 (MDX-1106) in refractory solid tumors: safety, clinical activity, pharmacodynamics, and immunologic correlates.

Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology · 2010 · 2,353 cites
Recent publications
Major themes8
  • Kidney Neoplasms27
  • Carcinoma, Renal Cell25
  • Lung Neoplasms4
  • Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols3
  • Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung3
  • Melanoma3
  • Carcinoma, Transitional Cell2
  • Fecal Microbiota Transplantation2
Leading journals6
  • The New England journal of medicine10
  • Journal for immunotherapy of cancer3
  • Nature medicine3
  • Cancer treatment reviews2
  • ESMO open2
  • International journal of molecular sciences2
Leading researchers8
  • Choueiri TK12
  • Motzer RJ11
  • Powles T7
  • Rini BI7
  • Tannir NM7
  • Donskov F6
  • Escudier B6
  • Gurney H6
Affiliations (unnormalised)6
  • Dana-Farber Cancer Institute6
  • Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center5
  • The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center5
  • Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center4
  • Lank Center for Genitourinary Oncology3
  • Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center3

Disease biology

9 matches

Key proteins & gene products studied in this disease. Number shows shared papers.

Related conditions

11 matches

Diseases frequently studied alongside this one. Number shows shared papers.

Disease profile

A grounded synthesis of the condition — overview, causes, mechanism, risk factors and current standard of care.

Overview

Kidney neoplasms are tumors or cancers arising in the kidney. The supplied literature focuses mainly on renal cell carcinoma, including localized and advanced disease, with attention to screening, diagnosis, staging, treatment, and management.

Pathophysiology

Clear cell renal cell carcinoma, the most common histologic subtype, is characterized by inactivation of the von Hippel-Lindau tumor suppressor gene. The grounding also links kidney cancer biology to the tumor microenvironment, immune mechanisms, and complement system dysregulation as contributors to tumorigenesis.

Risk factors

The supplied grounding does not support specific risk factors for kidney neoplasms. It does note that tumor histology and risk stratification are important for treatment selection, but not for disease risk.

Current standard of care

Management includes surgery for localized disease and, for relapsed or stage IV renal cell carcinoma, surgery and/or systemic therapy. Systemic treatment categories in the grounding include targeted therapy agents such as VEGF- and mTOR-directed drugs, as well as immune checkpoint inhibitors and IL-2-based immunotherapy.

AI-generated summary grounded in MeSH and 6 peer-reviewed sources. Informational only — not medical advice. Generated 2026-07-07.

Reference

Authoritative identity, definition & identifiers.

Defined in MeSH

Tumors or cancers of the KIDNEY.

References & data sources
  • Disease identity & definition — NLM Medical Subject Headings (MeSH), public domain
  • Clinical trials — ClinicalTrials.gov (U.S. National Library of Medicine)
  • Research activity — Europe PMC (EMBL-EBI) + OpenAlex-derived paper links
  • Related entities are derived from literature co-mention (studied together) — associative, not causal.