Brian Rini, MD is a professor of medicine and chief of clinical trials at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC) in Nashville, TN. He is a key opinion leader in the clinical investigation and management of kidney cancer.
In honor of Kidney Cancer Awareness Month, Dr. Rini shared some of his views on where the field is today and what we have to look forward to in the future.
KCCure: What is the most significant advancement you have seen in the last decade for the treatment of advanced RCC?
Dr. Rini: The most significant advancement has been the development of Immunotherapy (IO) based doublets as front-line standard therapy in metastatic RCC (mRCC). These have led to significant overall survival advantages over sunitinib (Sutent), prolongation of progression-free survival/disease control and higher objective response rates. Most importantly, a fraction of mRCC patients can now be cured of their disease which was not the case with VEGF TKI monotherapy.
KCCure: What advancement are you most hopeful we will achieve in the next decade?
Dr. Rini: In short, curing more patients. We have a good start with the IO-based doublets, but need to build on them by adding more drugs and/or refining biomarker selection of patents so we can apply therapy more thoughtfully.
KCCure: Tell us a bit about the kidney cancer team at Vanderbilt
Dr. Rini: Vanderbilt has an amazing critical mass of kidney cancer researchers. This spans clinical investigators like myself and Katy Beckermann, in addition to laboratory investigators such as Kim Rathmell, Jeff Rathmell, John Manning, Frank Mason, Javid Moslehi and others. Further, we have a robust clinical team of advanced practice providers, RNs and clinical pharmacists. I am blessed to have such a knowledgeable team to help us take the best possible care of RCC patients.
If you have been diagnosed with kidney cancer, finding the right specialist is important. Looking for expert care? Click here to make an appointment with Dr. Rini or another member of the team at VICC.
