Renal Cell Carcinoma Microenvironment Discovery Project

Official Title

Molecular Dissection of the Renal Cell Carcinoma Tumour Microenvironment for the Discovery of Novel Therapeutic Targets

Summary:

This study will obtain tumour samples from nephrectomy specimens in a multi-regional fashion and subject them to integrated genomics, pathological and radiological assessment. The goal is to better understand the the molecular basis for how various cells within the tumour microenvironment act in a coordinated manner to facilitate tumour progression and therapy resistance. Our ultimate aim is to leverage this data resource to identify novel therapeutic targets and biomarkers to improve the clinical management of this disease.

Trial Description

Primary Outcome:

• Molecular profiling of various cell populations within tumour by using single cell RNA-CITEseq.
• Determination of the radiological and pathological features associated with the derived tumour microenvironment molecular data

This study is an observational prospective trial where renal cell carcinoma samples are isolated from nephrectomy specimens in a multi-regional manner and subjected to an integrated genomic, pathological and radiological assessment to provide a detailed morphological and molecular view of the RCC microenvironment.

The major genomics technologies used to examine tumour specimens include single cell RNA sequencing including nuclear (NUCseq) and epitope sequencing (CITEseq). Additionally, bulk RNA sequencing and targeted mutational profiling will be performed. These technologies will determine mutational and gene expression profiles of various heterogeneous cell populations within the tumour microenvironment, including cancer, immune, and supporting cells. This will allow identification of mutations and abnormal expression patterns within individual cells, that will be used to infer targetable vulnerabilities and biomarker signatures.

In addition, ex vivo tumour magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and digital pathology will be performed on a subset of cases to facilitate correlative radio -genomic and -pathological assessment.

View this trial on ClinicalTrials.gov