Grant: CIHR Fellowship

Kidney cancer is one of the most common cancers and its incidence has been steadily increasing. Unfortunately, because the kidney is a hidden organ, it does not present itself, and kidney cancer is often detected when the tumor has already spread all over the body and the hope for a cure is minimal. There is currently no blood test for the early detection of kidney cancer. With the use of tumor biomarkers (substances that increase or decrease expression in cancer patients relative to healthy individuals), we will be able to detect kidney cancer early. In addition, after patients are treated, some kidney cancers will spread to other parts of the body (aggressive), while other tumors do not behave in this manner. It is important to be able to predict the aggressiveness of the tumor as this will help determine the patient treatment plan. Our research is focused on identifying tumor biomarkers using a new, sensitive technique, called mass spectrometry, that is being successfully used in other cancers for comparing proteins of normal and cancer patients to identify tumor biomarkers. Preliminary experiments showed that this technique can identify biomarkers for kidney cancer. We will first analyze the proteins produced by cancer and compare them to the normal kidney to identify markers that will aid in the early detection of kidney cancer. This will be followed by advanced computer (bioinformatics) and experimental analyses to investigate the role of these biomarkers in cancer. We will also compare proteins of patients who have advanced kidney cancer and compare them to patients who have early and less aggressive kidney cancer. These markers will help to decide the best treatment option for each patient and will have a great impact by avoiding unnecessary costs and unwanted side-effects resulting from treatments that are no benefit to a certain patient. A better understanding of kidney cancer will lead to improved detection and ultimately better health care.