Early testing of interferon and interleukin-2 as treatments for advanced kidney cancer.
UCLA pioneered the understanding of the role of radical nephrectomy for patients with advanced kidney cancer and partial and "adrenal sparing" nephrectomy for small kidney tumors.
UCLA awarded the first NIH-Biologic Response Modifiers Program Contract to study cytokines in kidney cancer.
Identification of tumor-specific Renal tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL)
First Gene Marking Clinical Trial in the US - Genetically engineered CD8+ and CD4+ TIL vs. PBL in RCC and Melanoma
Testing of the concomitant administration of recombinant human interleukin-2 and recombinant interferon alfa-2A
UCLA awarded an NIH, Program Project Grant in Gene Therapy as the first center to test Gene transfer into TIL
UCLA issues first report on double gene transfection - RCC tumors engineered to produce both IL-2 and INFa
UCLA awarded an NIH Contract -to study treatment with CD8+ TIL and IL-2
UCLA performs early clinical trials using Interferon alpha-primed TIL combined with interleukin-2 and interferon alpha
Development of subcutaneous interleukin-2 plus interferon alpha-2A
Erythropoietin production, a potential marker for IL-2/interferon responsive tumors
UCLA performs one of the first In Vivo Cancer Gene Therapies, using IL-2 Adenovirus Vector
UCLA publishes a textbook on kidney cancer: Kidney Cancer; Management of
UCLA pioneered the application of Health-related quality of life measurements in evaluating treatments for kidney cancer
UCLA Kidney Cancer Program directors served as Co-Chairs for the Second NCI Symposium on Renal Cell Carcinoma: Recent Progress and Future Directions
UCLA publishes an analysis of its first 203 consecutively treated patients using IL-2 based immunotherapy
UCLA Kidney Cancer Program directors served as Chairman for the 4th International Symposium EORTC Biologic Therapy of Cancer from Basic Research to Clinical Application and the Society of Biologic Therapy 12th Annual Scientific Meeting
UCLA presents research that human dendritic cells can activate tumor infiltrating lymphocytes against autologous tumor:
UCLA publishes its experience with metastatic RCCa with concurrent IVC invasion showing long term survival following combination therapy using radical nephrectomy, vena cava thrombectomy, and postoperative immunotherapy
UCLA directs a multicenter randomized phase II/III trial of CD8+ TIL in combination with recombinant IL-2
Construction of the first Kidney Cancer Microarray (340 Patients)
Completion of the Phase 1 UCLA Kidney Cancer Database (1,498 patients; 263 variables/patient)
UCLA publishes its experience expanding the indications for surgery and adjuvant IL-2 based immunotherapy
First testing of Intratumoral IL-2 for renal cell carcinoma by direct gene transfer of a plasmid DNA/DMRIE/DOPE lipid complex
UCLA develops and publishes its UCLA Integrated Staging System (UISS)
UCLA performs A Phase I/II pilot study of KW-2189.
Second Decade (2000-2009)
The Henry Alvin and Carrie L. Meinhardt Chair in Kidney Cancer Research is established
An analysis of 124 patients with of metastatic RCC treated with high-dose bolus interleukin-2 in a non-intensive care unit is published
Development of aG250 targeted and T-cell mediated anti-tumor activity against RCCa using a chimeric fusion protein consisting of G250 and granulocyte-monocyte colony stimulating factor
The UCLA Integrated Staging System (UISS), for patients with renal cell carcinoma is validated
Arie Belldegrun, MD, FACS serves as Guest Editor for New issues in RCC, Seminars in Urologic Oncology, and Renal and Adrenal Carcinoma, Atlas in GU Oncology
UCLA performs its first Laparoscopic Radical nephrectomy
Arie Belldegrun, MD, FACS awarded the Roy and Carol Doumani Chair in Urologic Oncology
UCLA develops a mathematical model to predict individual survival for patients with renal cell carcinoma
UCLA an early leader in cryoablation and minimally invasive ablative approaches for renal tumors
UCLA an early site to test the usefulness of F-18 deoxy-glucose whole body positron emission tomography (PET) for staging of advanced renal cell cancer
UCLA Kidney Cancer Program directors served as Chair of the 2nd International Kidney Cancer Symposium, Chair, Novel Approaches to Advanced Disease and participated in the International Conference on Staging Renal Cell Carcinoma, Lyon, France, October 2002
UCLA develops the AUA Patient Education Website: Kidney Tumors
UCLA first to report that Carbonic Anhydrase IX is an independent predictor of survival in advanced renal cell carcinoma and a marker of IL-2 response.
Arie Belldegrun, MD, FACS, gives the Plenary Session Lecture on Kidney Cancer at the American Urological Association Annual Meeting, May 2003, Renal Cell Carcinoma, San Francisco, CA.
A novel kidney cancer immunotherapy developed in the UCLA Belldegrun Research Laboratory that is based on the granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor and carbonic anhydrase IX fusion gene chosen to be further developed by the NIH RAID program
UCLA publishes data on the role of lymph node dissection, and the impact of lymph nodes on survival, and benefits of immunotherapy
Development of LABAZ1: A metastatic tumor model for renal cell carcinoma expressing the carbonic anhydrase type 9 tumor antigen
UCLA develops a scoring algorithm to predict survival after nephrectomy and immunotherapy in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma: a stratification tool for prospective clinical trials
UCLA performs a pilot trial of tumor lysate-loaded dendritic cells for the treatment of metastatic renal cell carcinoma
UCLA Kidney Cancer Program directors serve as Editors, Renal and Adrenal Tumors, Oxford University Press, Oxford, England and Cancer Treatment and Research Book Series: Kidney Cancer, Kluwer Academic Publishers
UCLA Kidney Cancer Program launches hands-on educational courses for urologists in cryosurgical ablation of renal tumors
UCLA Kidney Cancer Program Director appointed to the American Urological Association's Kidney Cancer Guideline Committee (2007)
15- Year Survival Data of the UCLA Kidney Cancer Program presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) (Chicago - May 2007)
Arie Belldegrun, MD, FACS, delivers the keynote Andrew C. Novick Memorial Lecture at the Ninth International Kidney Cancer Symposium in Chicago.
Fairooz Kabbinavar, MD, presents promising Preliminary Results from a Phase I trial of a novel combination of targeted therapies in patients with advanced kidney cancer at the Ninth International Kidney Cancer Symposium in Chicago, as well as data on the efficacy and safety of a developmental drug for kidney cancer at the annual meeting of the European Society of Medical Oncology.
Allan Pantuck, MD, is awarded a grant to study the immunological effects of focal high intensity frequency ultrasound alone and in combination with cancer vaccines.
Brian Shuch, MD initiated several projects involving sarcomatoid transformation in renal cell carcinoma. These studies questioned the role of upfront cytoreductive nephrectomy in this population and described a pattern of subclonal spread.
UCLA publishes several articles including the use of DNA alterations in the CAIX gene to predict prognosis and personalized selection of patients for Interleukin-2 therapy, the investigation of mutations in chromosome 9 to distinguish benign from aggressive small kidney tumors, and development of molecular tools to identify patients’ risk of dying from kidney cancer.
Third Decade (2010-2019)
Drs. Mark Litwin and Christopher Saigal work with the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) initiated the Urologic Diseases in America (UDA) project in 2001 with the goal of quantifying the immense demographic burden of urological diseases on the American public. They specifically outline the current status of kidney cancer with surgery and systemic therapy treatments.
Christopher Saigal, MD led efforts to determine practice patterns with renal mass biopsy in the United States
Alexandra Drakaki, MD presented her work the UCLA CAIX vaccine therapy trial in a plenary session at the Kidney Cancer
Dr. Mark Litwin helped describe patterns of diffusion of surgical innovation for kidney cancer which depends more on their surgeon's practice style than on the characteristics of the patient
Drs. Saigal and Shuch’s work with the Urologic Diseases of America project highlight that all types of kidney cancer treatments can pose adverse health outcomes when compared to active surveillance.
Drs. Saigal and Shuch demonstrate that the perceived improvement in outcome with partial nephrectomy over radical nephrectomy is strongly influenced by selection bias.
Genetic counseling referral guidelines for “early onset of hereditary kidney cancer was defined in by Dr. Brian Shuch in 2014 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
Dr. Brian Shuch leads first study describing the use of multigene panel testing for hereditary kidney cancer syndromes in Cancer in 2017.
Dr. Shuch leads several clinical efforts describing the outcome of sarcomatoid transformed kidney cancer. He later describes the genomics of sarcomatoid kidney cancer in 2016 in a landmark paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Dr. Arie Belldegrun leads an international effort to evaluate adjuvant therapy for high risk kidney cancer using a monoclonal antibody to CAIX.
Dr. Karim Chamie reports that increased body mass index improves outcome in patients with advanced kidney cancer
In 2017, Dr. Allan Pantuck publishes landmark paper on adjuvant systemic therapy with Sunitnib. Dr. Pantuck also presented before the Oncology Drug Advisory Committee and the FDA leading to the approval of the first approved adjuvant drug for kidney cancer.
Dr. Brian Shuch receives K08 grant from the National Institutes of Health to study genomic heterogeneity in small renal mass.
Drs. Allan Pantuck and Brian Shuch named to the Society of Urologic Oncology Clinical Trials Committee for Renal Cancer
Dr. Brian Shuch named SWOG Co-Chair of the Renal Committee.
Dr. Chamie led pivotal pre-clinical work that has led to the development of the first-ever chemo-ablative agent for low-grade upper tract urothelial carcinoma of the kidney
Dr. Chamie’s research lab is expanding the role of locally administered immunotherapeutic agents for the treatment of high-grade upper tract urothelial carcinoma of the kidney in order to limit the need for kidney removal.
