Study Finds Some Advanced Kidney Cancer Patients Remain Treatment-Free for Years

Some patients with advanced kidney cancer were able to go years without additional treatment after receiving a limited course of immunotherapy, according to new research from Moffitt Cancer Center.  

In a small clinical trial, researchers found that more than 40% of patients had long-lasting cancer control without additional therapy. For people with metastatic kidney cancer, those results are rare.

Jeff Johnson, MD

“These patients had cancer that had already spread,” said Jeff Johnson, MD, a medical oncology fellow at Moffitt who analyzed the data. “More than six years later, some of them still haven’t needed additional treatment.” 

Small Study, Long-Term Follow 

The trial began in 2017 and enrolled 27 patients with advanced kidney cancer who had not received treatment before. Ultimately, 26 patients received the therapy. 

The treatment combined two drugs that are designed to activate the immune system in different ways. Pembrolizumab, or Keytruda, is an immunotherapy that helps the immune system recognize and attack cancer cells. The second drug, Interleukin-2, has been used to treat kidney cancer since the 1990s.  

“The thought was that the combination of the two would provide a synergistic effect that's not seen with a single drug alone, and so hopefully the sum of their parts would be more than one alone,” Johnson said.   

Patients were followed for more than six years, giving researchers a rare look at long-term outcomes. At the five-year mark, about 73% of patients were still alive. 

During that time, 11 of the 26 patients in the study did not need additional treatment after completing therapy.  

“We still haven’t reached the median overall survival even after all this time,” Johson said. “It's very exciting because these results are not often seen in metastatic disease.” 

Short-Term Treatment Approach 

One unique feature of the study was its limited treatment duration. Patients received therapy for about nine months and then treatment stopped. Many with metastatic kidney cancer remain on treatment for years or indefinitely. Researchers wanted to see if a shorter course could still produce lasting results.  

For some patients, it did. After finishing therapy, several participants were able to go years without needing additional treatment or experiencing side effects. 

What Comes Next? 

Because the study was small and conducted at one cancer center, larger trials will be needed to confirm results. But Johnson says progress in kidney cancer treatments continues to accelerate as new therapies develop. 

“There are new treatments coming all the time and there is a lot of optimism because we keep having better and better results,” he said. “I believe the future is bright for patients facing this disease.”