Kidney cancer

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the most common form of kidney cancer, representing 90% to 95% of all cases. It tends to go unnoticed for a long time and, therefore, it has usually attained a considerable size and spread to other parts of the body by the time it is diagnosed. It carries a mortality rate of 40%. Its worldwide incidence has risen at a steady pace of almost 3% per year over the last two decades, underlining the need for an early detection test.

For more than 10 years, Prof. Swinnen and his team have been working on identifying a panel of more selective and specific biomarkers to stratify these patients according to their risk of recurrence and their response to available treatments.
Throughout 2019, under the responsibility of Jaroslav Belotserkovsky, one of Prof. Swinnen’s workers, samples collected over many years have been analysed using high-throughput mass spectrometry, leading to the characterisation of more than 2,000 lipid species. The objective —and hope— of the Foundation is that the results will make it possible to identify new biomarkers predictive of the course of RCC and, therefore, assist medical teams in choosing the most suitable therapies.