Spectrum Health Joins Kidney Cancer Study

Spectrum Health is playing an important role in the international hunt for effective treatments for advanced renal cell (kidney) cancer.

Argos Therapeutics recently enrolled its first patients in the Phase 3 ADAPT kidney cancer study, a personalized cancer immunotherapy being developed for the treatment of an advanced type of kidney cancer – metastatic renal cell carcinoma or mRCC.

The ADAPT study is expected to enroll 450 newly-diagnosed mRCC patients at approximately 120 sites, mostly in North America. Spectrum Health is the only site participating in West Michigan.

Renal cell carcinoma is the most common type of kidney cancer. Each year, 50,000 new cases are diagnosed in the United States. Unfortunately, the common symptoms of kidney cancer, such as back pain and unexplained weight loss, go undetected. Twenty percent of renal cell cancer patients are not diagnosed until the disease has advanced to the point where it has spread beyond the kidney to other organs.

Brian Lane, MD, PhD, urologic oncology surgeon with Spectrum Health Medical Group at the Lemmen-Holton Cancer Pavilion, was instrumental in bringing the ADAPT study to West Michigan.

“Currently, the only option for most patients with this type of cancer is surgery, followed by targeted drug therapy,” said Lane. “Advanced kidney cancer is usually resistant to chemotherapy, radiation and hormonal therapies so more targeted drug therapy is the best available treatment option for most patients. That is why studies such as ADAPT are so important. We need to find the most effective drugs.”

Lane says that to be involved in the study, patients must be:

18 years of age or older
Newly diagnosed with metastatic kidney cancer
Good candidates for standard surgery
Good candidates to receive standard targeted drug therapy

This research trial offers patients a personalized treatment for their cancer. Our goal is to promote knowledge of the ADAPT study when patients are first suspected to have kidney cancer, before surgery or other therapy is started so that they can potentially participate in the trial,” explains Lane.

The investigational drug being studied in this trial has not been approved for use in the general population by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Patients and providers interested in learning more about this clinical research trial should call Dr. Lane at 616.267.8406.

Spectrum Health is a not-for-profit health system in West Michigan offering a full continuum of care through the Spectrum Health Hospital Group, which is comprised of nine hospitals including Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital, a state of the art children’s hospital that opened in January 2011, and 140 service sites; the Spectrum Health Medical Group and West Michigan Heart, physician groups totaling more than 700 providers; and Priority Health, a health plan with 600,000 members. Spectrum Health is West Michigan’s largest employer with 19,000 employees. The organization provided $204 million in community benefit during its 2012 fiscal year.