Clinical Trials-Treatment for Kidney Cancer
Research protocols, or clinical trials, are carefully controlled research studies in which cancer patients help doctors and scientists find ways to improve health and cancer care, and to make sure the treatments are safe and effective.
Each study is designed to address and answer specific scientific questions and to find better ways to prevent, diagnose or treat cancer. A clinical trial is one of the final stages resulting from the research conducted during intensive and lengthy laboratory studies.
There are many promising non-standard therapies being studied in UCLA's Kidney Cancer Program, which include cellular immune therapy (dendritic cell therapy, autolymphocyte therapy, tumor infiltrating lymphocytes, etc), tumor vaccines, gene therapy, stem cell transplant, anti-angiogenesis therapy, inhibitors of growth factors, etc.
Although many of these therapies appear to be very promising, they are still experimental, and it is unclear whether or not they are effective treatments for kidney cancer. If you are interested in finding out more about these protocols, ask a member of the UCLA Kidney Cancer Program team about current trials being conducted at UCLA (See Ongoing Clinical Trials).