Dr. Wenxin (Vincent) Xu

Natural killer cells, also referred to as NK cells, play several major roles in the body's defense against cancers like renal cell carcinoma.

Understanding NK Cells in Kidney Cancer Treatment

Natural killer cells, also referred to as NK cells, play several major roles in a patient’s defense against cancers like renal cell carcinoma, according to Dr. Wenxin (Vincent) Xu, a physician at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

“[Natural killer cells] are interesting [in regard to] kidney cancer because, at least in theory, these cells should have some effect against the tumor if we can make them more active,” Xu emphasized in an interview with CURE.

Xu goes on to explain that these cells act as a way that the body fights off unwanted diseases (like cancer), and refers to them as a backup part of the immune system that has the capability to detect things that shouldn’t be in the body.

In the interview, Xu walked through exactly what natural killer cells are, what patients should know about them, and how they could help fight kidney cancer in a way traditional therapy cannot. Moreover, he discussed the major roles of these killer cells.

Xu is also a medical oncologist and clinical trial investigator at the Lank Center Genitourinary Oncology, as well as an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, located in Boston.

What are “memory-like” NK cells, and how could they help fight kidney cancer in a way traditional therapy can’t?

Natural killer cells, or NK cells, are a type of immune cell that is normally found in the body. As part of the immune system, natural killer cells have several major roles, including fighting viruses and cancer cells. Some things that don't belong in the body can try to escape the immune system by downregulating MHC1, so they don't have the specific proteins that other immune cells, like T cells, can recognize.

Natural killer cells are a type of cell that doesn't rely on this, so it's a kind of backup part of your immune system that can detect these kinds of problems. This makes it interesting for kidney cancer because, at least in theory, these cells should have some effect against the tumor if we can make them more active.

This piece reflects the author’s personal experience and perspective. For medical advice, please consult your health care provider.

For more news on cancer updates, research and education, 

don’t forget to subscribe to CURE®’s newsletters here.

Videos

Dr. Wenxin (Vincent) Xu discussed the benefit of using biomarkers to more precisely guide treatment for patients with renal cell carcinoma.

How Biomarkers May Help Guide Kidney Cancer Treatment Earlier 

At the 2025 Kidney Cancer Research Summit, Dr. Wenxin (Vincent) Xu sat down for an interview with CURE, in which, he discussed the benefit of using biomarkers to guide treatment for renal cell carcinoma (a type of kidney cancer).

“If you [are able] to know at [ahead of time] that your treatment is not going well, those patients might do much better if you're able to switch tracks early,” Xu emphasized in the interview.

During the conversation, he aimed to explain to patients what KIM-1 is, and how biomarkers like this can be used as a potential therapeutic target to guide kidney cancer treatment more precisely.

Xu is a physician, medical oncologist and clinical trial investigator in the Lank Center Genitourinary Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, as well as an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, both located in Boston.

How could KIM-1 be used to guide kidney cancer treatment more precisely in the future?

There are many ways we could imagine using a blood test for kidney cancer, and what I'm going to discuss are not the only ones. Some of the obvious ways this could be helpful are, for example, we know that adjuvant immunotherapy after surgery improves patient survival. But when you really break it down, out of all the patients you're treating with adjuvant immunotherapy, only 8% are patients who are cured and would not have already been cured by the surgery.

It's a small number of patients you're benefiting by treating a large number. Hopefully, if you have a more precise biomarker, we can narrow that down and avoid giving extra treatment to patients who don't need it, and perhaps also figure out which patients are at a really high risk and give additional treatment to prevent recurrence in those patients. So that's just one of many ways a blood test could be useful.

Another way, for example, is if a patient has metastatic kidney cancer and they're being treated with immunotherapy. You can imagine that that patient might want to know earlier — before the usual 12-week scan — whether the treatment is working or not. Because if you could know at three weeks instead of 12 weeks that your treatment is really not going well, those patients might do much better if you're able to switch tracks early.

Dr. Wenxin (Vincent) Xu

Understanding NK Cells in Kidney Cancer Treatment

How Biomarkers May Help Guide Kidney Cancer Treatment Earlier

Latest News