Dr Chahoud on Kidney Cancer Abstracts to Watch at ASCO GU 2026

“At this year’s [Genitourinary Cancers Symposium in the field of] kidney cancer, I would like to highlight 2 trials that would impact the current landscape of clinical practice: [LITESPARK-022 and LITESPARK-011].”

Jad Chahoud, MD, MPH, chief scientific and innovation officer at Orlando Health Cancer Institute, highlighted kidney cancer abstracts expected to draw significant attention at the 2026 ASCO Genitourinary Cancers Symposium, noting that forthcoming data may inform both adjuvant and later-line treatment strategies in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

Chahoud emphasized that one of the most anticipated study readouts is the phase 3 LITESPARK-022 trial (NCT05239728), an adjuvant trial that enrolled patients with high-risk clear cell RCC, including those with stage II/III disease and select patients rendered no evidence of disease after metastasectomy. The study compared adjuvant pembrolizumab (Keytruda) plus belzutifan (Welireg) vs pembrolizumab plus placebo. Chahoud noted that adjuvant pembrolizumab has already established a benefit in this setting, but relapse risk remains clinically meaningful, supporting investigation of rational combination strategies. Following a prior report that the study met its disease-free survival primary end point, Chahoud is intriegued to see the magnitude of benefit and how durability trends evolve with longer follow-up.

A second study Chahoud identified as potentially practice-informing is the phase 3 LITESPARK-011 trial (NCT04586231), a randomized trial comparing lenvatinib (Lenvima) plus belzutifan vs cabozantinib (Cabometyx) monotherapy in patients with advanced clear cell RCC who experienced disease progression following prior PD-1/PD-L1–directed therapy. Chahoud framed this as a direct head-to-head test of the combination against a dominant standard in cabozantinib, with implications for how clinicians sequence VEGF TKIs and combination targeted approaches after progression. He noted that it was also previously announced that this study met its primary end point of progression-free survival, explaining that the depth of PFS separation will be central to interpreting practice impact.

Chahoud underscored that in addition to efficacy, patient-reported outcomes will be critical for these studies—particularly when comparing a 2-drug regimen vs single-agent treatment.