Dr. Junker on Need to Identify Biomarkers to Predict Response to RCC Treatment

Kerstin Junker, MD, associate professor, Department of Urology, Universität des Saarlandes, and chair of the EAU Section of Urological Research, discusses the unmeet need of identifying biomarkers to predict response to treatment for renal cell carcinoma (RCC) during the 2017 EMUC Congress.

There are different RCC subtypes; therefore, the community should understand that these all have different biologies, prognoses, and outcomes to treatment, Junker explains. Clear cell RCC is the most common subtype, in which there is a 50% rate of developing distant metastasis. This subtype is also associated with a poorer prognosis. What is needed, within these organ-confined tumors, is knowing the individual risk of distant metastasis.

Classical prognostic markers and scoring systems are being used, Junker adds, but it is not enough to identify a patient's high risk of metastasis.

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