Chung-Han Lee, MD, PhD, a medical oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses the rationale for evaluating telaglenastat in renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

Research regarding the natural history of RCC has shown that the disease appears to be a metabolic malignancy, says Lee. This means that many different metabolic alterations affect disease pathogenesis in RCC. 

 Several preclinical studies ​have demonstrated that almost all of the molecules within the tricarboxylic acid cycle rely on glutamine​, which play​s an important role in the synthesis of fatty acid​s, Lee adds.

Notably, telaglenastat is able to block cells from utilizing glutamine​, explains Lee.

As such, this agent is being further evaluated in multiple clinical trials to determine if patients can derive benefit from an altered metabolism, Lee concludes

Videos

Chung-Han Lee, MD, PhD, discusses the rationale for evaluating telaglenastat in renal cell carcinoma. 

Dr. Lee on the Rationale for Evaluating Telaglenastat in RCC   

Steven Lee Chang, MD, assistant professor of surgery, Harvard Medical School, associate surgeon, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center, discusses the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on the surgical management of patients with genitourinary (GU) cancers.

Many patients with GU cancers do not require immediate surgical intervention, Chang says. For example, patients with early-stage renal cell carcinoma (RCC) can often be monitored or treated with alternative therapies, such as ablation. 

Patients with low-risk prostate or bladder cancers may also be eligible to safely receive nonsurgical management, explains Chang. 

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, specific protocols were formulated to assess a patient’s urgency for surgery, Chang continues. For example, patients with stage III RCC were categorized as very urgent, as withholding surgery could be detrimental to a patient’s outcome. 

Patients with upper tract urothelial carcinoma who require nephroureterectomy and those with muscle-invasive bladder cancer were also deemed urgent, concludes Chang.

Steven Lee Chang, MD, discusses the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 on the surgical management of patients with genitourinary cancers.  



Steven Lee Chang, MD

Articles

Dr. Lee on the Rationale for Evaluating Telaglenastat in RCC

Dr. Chang on the Impact of COVID-19 on the Surgical Management of GU Cancers