Non-invasive imaging technique can accurately detect clear-cell renal cell carcinoma

Kidney cancers, known as renal cell carcinomas, make up 90% of solid kidney tumors. Every year more than 81,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with kidney cancer. Among the many types of these cancers, the most common and deadly is clear-cell renal cell carcinoma, which accounts for 75% of cases and 90% of kidney cancer deaths. Traditional imaging methods like CT or MRI often struggle to differentiate between benign and malignant tumors, leading to either unnecessary surgeries or delayed treatment.

The phase 3 trial, called ZIRCON, included 332 patients with suspect lesions detected on their kidney from 36 research hospitals from nine different countries with UCLA leading international accrual. The average age of participants was 61 years, with 71% being male and 29% female.

The patients were injected with 89Zr-TLX250, which travels through the body and attaches to the protein CA9 if present in the kidney mass. CA9 is highly expressed in up to 95% of clear cell kidney cancers with minimal expression in normal tissue.

A few days after the injection, patients received a PET-CT scan to detect the radioactive part of the drug, which lights up on the scan wherever the protein is present, allowing doctors to see the cancer more clearly. By looking at the scan, doctors can determine if the kidney mass is likely to be cancerous based on whether or not the 89Zr-TLX250 has attached to the cancer cells.

"The implications of this research are vast," said Shuch. "If adopted widely, 89Zr-TLX250 PET-CT imaging could become a new standard in kidney cancer diagnostics, like how PET-CT imaging has revolutionized prostate cancer management. It could also aid in the detection of other types of kidney cancers and help monitor patients at high risk of metastasis."

The study was sponsored by Telix Pharmaceuticals.

Source:

University of California - Los Angeles Health Sciences

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