Research Awards Recipients

Lay Abstract

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the most common and deadly form of kidney cancer. One in three patients present with cancer that has spread beyond the kidney (metastases). These tumours are highly resistant to radiation and chemotherapy, and only 1 in 8 patients with metastases will survive 5 years. While newer immune therapies have shown some promising results, many patients do not respond to them. We have discovered that a protein called KIM-1, when found on RCC tumours, may slow the spread of RCC tumours to distant sites. However, these results are preliminary and require further study. Our proposed research will help us to understand the molecular and cellular mechanisms on how KIM- 1 puts the brakes on cancer progression. We will do this using a variety of experimental cancer models and tumour samples obtained from patients affected by RCC. We will also test potential treatments that will enhance the function of KIM-1 to prevent the spread of RCC tumours. Our work has the potential to offer hope of better quality of life and improved survival for patients suffering from RCC.