A Review of Neoadjuvant Therapy for Localized and Locally Advanced Renal Cell Carcinoma

With the discovery of immunotherapy (treatments that increase the immune system’s ability to kill cancer cells) and targeted therapy (treatments that target the specific pathway the cancer uses to grow and survive), we have made great progress in the treatment of advanced kidney cancer. However, their roles in a localized setting (a tumor limited to the kidney and/or lymph nodes around the kidney) are not well defined. This review will look at the available data on the use of immunotherapy and targeted therapy for patients with localized kidney cancer, where the goals may be to decrease tumor size, to make surgery easier and less invasive, to save as much kidney function as possible, and/or to kill the cancer cells that may have escaped the kidney.