Standard treatment for kidney cancer that has spread to other parts of the body may include immunotherapy (a therapy that uses the body's natural immune system to fight cancer) and cytokines (proteins found in the body). If these treatments are not successful at controlling the cancer then chemotherapy or thalidomide are used. Chemotherapy and thalidomide will not cure kidney cancer but they may control the disease in some patients.
In some patients, transplants are now proposed for study. Stem cells (from bone marrow or the bloodstream) are normally used to treat cancers of the blood, not kidney cancer. Since researchers are still learning about using stem cell transplants for kidney cancer, the study is considered a research study. Patients participating in this study will receive smaller doses of chemotherapy drugs to prepare them for the transplant than patients who have a standard transplant. This type of transplant is called a "reduced intensity" transplant. A reduced intensity transplant uses the cell-killing activity of the transplanted donor stem cells to attack the recipient's cancer cells. This is called graft-versus-tumor-effect (GVT). Previous studies have shown that GVT may be greater if the donor is not related to the recipient.
