A study of nearly 1,500 patients treated for kidney cancer at UCLA in the last 15 years shows that an aggressive, tailored treatment approach results in better survival rates and uncovered subsets of kidney cancer that behave differently and need to be treated accordingly.

The one-size-fits-all approach traditionally used in kidney cancer treatment should be changed based on the results of the study, the longest to date to analyze kidney cancer patients and their outcomes, said Dr. Arie Belldegrun, senior author of the study, a professor of urology and a researcher at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The study appears in the Nov. 1, 2008 issue of Cancer, the peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society.

The study found that patients with localized kidney cancer could have either low, intermediate or high risk cancers based on the chance for recurrence. Patients with cancers that have already spread also fell into similarly different subsets. Some have better outcomes while others may have very aggressive cancers that may not warrant treatment.

"We showed for the first time, using an integrated staging system developed at UCLA, that we can identify which patients with localized disease fall into the low, intermediate and high risk subsets and which patients with metastasized cancers are either low, intermediate or high risk patients," Belldegrun said. "Now we can make treatment decisions based on that."

If a patient with localized cancer is identified as low risk, his five-year survival rate is expected to be 97 percent, while his 10-year survival rate is 92 percent. An intermediate risk patient with localized disease would have a five-year survival rate of 81 percent and a 10-year survival rate of 61 percent. A high-risk patient has a five-year survival rate of 62 percent, with a 10-year survival of 41 percent.

"All of these patients with cancers that have not spread present to their doctors with presumably localized disease and in the past they may have been treated the same way," Belldegrun said. "They need to be treated individually according to their risk levels."

The study showed that a patient with low-risk, localized kidney cancer could be treated only with surgery and expects an excellent outcome. Such a move would spare the patient from having to undergo radiation or immunotherapy, which result in harsh side effects. However, for a patient with high-risk, localized kidney cancer, surgery would not be enough. Additional therapy such as targeted treatments or immunotherapy should be considered in order to give the patient the best possible outcome.

In metastatic patients, someone with low-risk cancer should get very aggressive treatment, Belldegrun said, because there's a good chance the therapy will help the patient. Those with high-risk, metastatic disease won't get much, if any, benefit from treatment and may want to forego surgery and the toxic therapies.
"Our paper identifies, very precisely, which patients should get which therapies," Belldegrun said.

Other lead investigators on the study include Dr. Fairooz Kabbinavar, medical director of the kidney cancer program at UCLA and a professor of hematology/oncology, and Dr. Allan Pantuck, director for translational research and an associate professor of urology. Both are scientists with the Jonsson Cancer Center.