Novel CAR T cell therapy offers promising option for hard-to-treat kidney cancer

UT MD Anderson Research News July 15, 2026

• Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is the most common form of kidney cancer, and patients who progress on standard therapies have limited options and very poor prognoses

• The CD70-targeting CAR T cell therapy, ALLO-316, demonstrated encouraging results in previously treated patients with advanced ccRCC 

• Data demonstrates a great potential to advance cell therapies in the treatment of solid tumors 

HOUSTON, JULY 14, 2026 – Patients with advanced clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) who were treated with the CD70-targeted allogenic chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy, ALLO-316, experienced encouraging results with durable responses, according to results of a Phase 1a/b trial led by researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Findings from the TRAVERSE clinical trial were published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. This first-in-human study evaluated ALLO-316 in patients with metastatic ccRCC who had progression after treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors and tyrosine kinase inhibitors. The Phase 1a portion of the study established the recommended dose and lymphodepletion regimen for ALLO-316 while demonstrating a manageable safety profile. In the Phase 1b study, about half of patients saw their cancer stop growing or significantly shrinking, with some patients remaining in continued response for over a year after a single infusion of ALLO-316. 

“Patients with advanced clear cell renal cell carcinoma who progress on standard therapies have very limited treatment options and historically poor outcomes,” said principal investigator Samer Srour, M.B Ch.B., associate professor of Stem Cell Transplantation and Cellular Therapy. “For years, CAR T cell therapies have transformed outcomes in blood cancers, but reproducing that success in solid tumors has proven to be challenging. These results represent an important milestone in expanding the promise of CAR T cell therapy into kidney cancer and other solid tumors.”

What were the key findings of the trial for CAR T cell therapy in ccRCC? 

The full trial enrolled 51 patients with stage 4 disease who had previously received an average of four prior lines of therapy. Of these patients, 46 received treatment and had a median follow-up time of 28.8 months. 

The Phase 1a dosing and safety findings enabled researchers to advance the program into a Phase 1b expansion cohort. Twenty-three heavily pretreated patients with positive CD70 expression were enrolled, 20 of whom received ALLO-316. 

Half of the patients in the Phase 1b cohort experienced disease control, and the therapy achieved an objective response rate of 31.3% in patients with high CD70 expression (≥50%). Median overall survival for this cohort was 15.2 months and not reached in patients with high CD70 expression. These findings suggest that levels of CD70 expression may help identify patients most likely to benefit from treatment with ALLO-316. 

Overall, the treatment had a manageable safety profile consistent with the known experience in blood cancers. No severe neurotoxicity or graft-versus-host diseases were observed.

What is ALLO-316? 

ALLO-316 is an off-the-shelf CAR T cell therapy designed to target CD70, a protein commonly expressed on kidney cancer cells. Unlike traditional CAR T cell therapies made from a patient's own cells, ALLO-316 is derived from healthy donor cells and engineered to overcome immune rejection while attacking cancer cells.

Why is there a need for new therapies in relapsed or refractory clear cell renal cell carcinoma? 

ccRCC is a common and aggressive form of kidney cancer which typically causes no symptoms until it is diagnosed in late stages. Most patients in the TRAVERSE trial had exhausted multiple available therapies and faced a poor prognosis, with survival often measured in months. 

While immune checkpoint inhibitors and targeted therapies have improved outcomes, many patients eventually stop responding to available treatments, highlighting the urgent need for new options.

Researchers say the TRAVERSE trial provides evidence that allogeneic CAR T cell therapies can be successfully deployed against solid tumors. Further research is ongoing to advance the clinical development of ALLO-316 in ccRCC and to expand this novel therapy into other CD70- expressing tumors.

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This study was funded by Allogene Therapeutics as part of a strategic collaboration with UT MD Anderson. For a full list of collaborating authors, disclosures and funding sources, see the full paper in Journal of Clinical Oncology.