Asco 2017 - A new predictive test for the risk of relapse in kidney cancer

Villejuif, 1st june 2017

Asco 2017

A new predictive test for the risk of relapse in kidney cancer, validated by Gustave Roussy

On 5th June, Dr Bernard Escudier will present his research at the American  Society of Clinical Oncology (Asco) Congress in Chicago. He is a Medical  Oncologist at Gustave Roussy with a special interest in kidney cancer. He  has validated the first genetic signature of the risk of relapse of this cancer.  This new prognostic tool will thus be the subject of an oral presentation at  the world’s leading oncology congress.  

"This combination of 16 genes (11 involved in inflammation,  vascular growth, etc. and 5 reference genes) can predict which  patients have a significant risk of relapse within five years.  Similar tools have already been shown to be useful, in particular  in breast cancer, but until now no molecular signature is available  to predict such relapses in kidney cancer," explained Dr Escudier.  

This molecular signature, christened 16gene Recurrence Score®, was  developed and validated post-surgery (nephrectomy) in two cohorts  of patients with non-metastatic kidney cancer. The research was a  collaboration between Dr Escudier’s team at Gustave Roussy and other  French centers and that of Dr Rini at the Cleveland Clinic (Ohio, United  States). It was previously reported as a presentation to the Asco Congress  in 2015 and in The Lancet Oncology. This latest study, in a third high-risk  patient cohort, confirms its role as a new prognostic tool.  

"The 16gene Recurrence Score helps to identify those patients who  might gain require adjuvant treatment. This score is much more  reliable than the prognostic systems usually used heretofore.  However, our study also showed that this test does not enable us  to predict which of these patients will respond well to adjuvant  therapy with sunitinib" declared Dr Escudier.  

With 11,000 new cases each year in France, kidney cancer is between the  6th and 7th commonest cancer, contributing 3% of the total number. Clear  cell kidney cancer (renal cell carcinoma) is by far the commonest type of  kidney cancer (more than 80% of cases). When it is found at an early stage,  the prognosis is good, but when metastases are present, its 5-year survival  level is about 10%.  

This confirmation of the test’s usefulness opens the door to its early  marketing and routine clinical use in better identifying those patients at  risk of relapse of kidney cancer and offering them improved treatment.

Phase III trial of adjuvant sunitinib in patients with high-risk renal cell carcinoma (RCC): Validation of the 16-gene Recurrence Score in stage III patients.
Oral présentation by Bernard J. Escudier, Gustave Roussy
Session: Genitourinary (Nonprostate) Cancer
Sundat 5th june, 10h24 (local time)
Place: Arie Crown Theater
> Abstract n°4508 available on http://abstracts.asco.org

► A new predictive test for the risk of relapse in kidney cancer: See the video on Youtube