Kidney cancer patients were invited recently for a peek behind the curtain at research underway at UT Southwestern Medical Center.

On Sept. 30, some 300 patients and family members gathered on the 14^th floor of the Pickens Biomedical Building to hear half a dozen faculty members and a case discussion about new directions in diagnosis and treatment for kidney cancer.

This was the fourth such annual program. “The event is an opportunity for our patients to learn about the latest advances in kidney cancer; to ask questions in an informal, small-group setting; to interact with their care providers outside the clinic; and to build community,” said Dr. James Brugarolas, Professor of Internal Medicine and Director of the Kidney Cancer Program.

Dr. James Brugarolas says the annual kidney cancer event is an opportunity for patients to hear about discoveries being made at UT Southwestern.

Speakers included Dr. Jeffrey Cadeddu, Professor of Urology and Radiology, and Dr. Ivan Pedrosa, Professor of Radiology, Urology, and with the Advanced Imaging Research Center, who explained how imaging may someday soon replace biopsies in the initial diagnosis of some kidney cancers. “If the tumor is on the front of the kidney, it is difficult to access for a biopsy. More important, a quarter of the time when the biopsy shows ‘no cancer,’ it’s a false negative,” said Dr. Cadeddu. “I think ultimately we will be able to get diagnoses that are better than what we have today without ever doing an invasive biopsy.”

Dr. Hans Hammers, Associate Professor of Internal Medicine, spoke about his work combining two immunotherapy drugs, nivolumab and ipilimumab, with radiation. Immunotherapy drugs work by ramping up the patient’s immune system to fight the cancer. “Classic chemotherapy doesn’t work for kidney cancer, and this immunotherapy combination is the most significant advance in kidney cancer treatment in a decade,” he told the assembled patients. “Some patients will do extremely well.”

One patient whose fate was changed by combination immunotherapy and radiation treatment was Dallas Morning News reporter and columnist Robert Wilonsky, whose case was discussed at the event. Although Mr. Wilonsky was initially told that his cancer was inoperable because it had spread into a significant portion of the liver, the triple punch of nivolumab, ipilimumab, and radiation changed everything. “My quality of life is such that I’ve worked through all this. People I worked with did not know I was sick. That’s the remarkable thing these people have done for me,” he said, nodding toward the assembled physicians. Mr. Wilonsky chronicled his story and his experience with UT Southwestern in a moving essay this summer in The Dallas Morning News.

Four breakout sessions on topics such as kidney cancer risk factors and advances in radiation therapy afforded guests the opportunity to interact with faculty in close quarters and ask questions.

Patient advocates and supporters presented checks for $50,000 from Joey’s Wings and $123,000 from Rock the Cure for UT Southwestern’s kidney cancer research effort.