Arpita Desai

What an absolute honor to chair the papillary RCC Education Session at #ASCO26! 🙌🔬 Papillary renal cell carcinoma is a disease that demands our attention, and this session covered the full spectrum 🧬 — biology ➡️ frontline ➡️ refractory disease. I was thrilled to review subsequent lines + novel therapeutic approaches for refractory papillary RCC 💉💙, including the emerging strategies and clinical trial opportunities that give me so much hope for our patients. 🌟 Huge thanks to my incredible co-faculty Dr. Ramaprasad Srinivasan 🧠 & @charlesbnguyen for such an engaging discussion — collaboration like this is what moves the field forward! 🚀 #KidneyCancer #RCC #GUOncology @ASCO @urotoday @JCO_ASCO @ASCOPost @charlesbnguyen @OncoAlert @UCSF

Excited to join this fantastic group tonight and talk about treatment options for papillary RCC after progression on frontline therapy! 🫘🧬💊 Join us for an engaging and interactive discussion—hope to see you there! 🧡 #WiRCC #KidneyCancer #RCC @UCSF @OncoAlert @urotoday

Nothing beats being surrounded by your @UCSF family at #ASCO26! So grateful for these incredible colleagues— the brilliance, the generosity, the friendship. These are the people who make UCSF feel like home. 🙏💙 #UCSFGUOnc #ASCO26 @UCSF @UCSFCancer @DrTFriedlander @julian_hong @snseyedinMD @MazieTsangMD @ivandk3 @KellyNFitz @danielkwonmd @AnaVManana @xiaolin_zhu @E_MaldonadoMD @KVanLoonMD @ka_rickman @ASCO @koshkin85 @drkomanduri

✨ Every year I come to #ASCO26 for the science… but I leave forever changed by the people. 💙 The mentors who lit the path before I could see it. The colleagues who dare me to dream bigger. The friends who remind me that none of us walk this road alone. 🤗 We spend our days in clinic holding hope for our patients — and then we gather here, and something extraordinary happens. The exhaustion lifts. The fire reignites. We remember WHY we chose this. 🔥 Because behind every abstract is a patient praying for more time. 🙏 And behind every one of us is a community refusing to stop until we find the cure. 🧬🔬 I'm leaving rejuvenated, full of hope, and more determined than ever. 🚀 This is so much more than a meeting. It's a movement. And I'm so honored to be part of it. 💕 #ASCO26 #GUOncology #KidneyCancer @brian_rini @KVanLoonMD @AnaVManana @NazliDizman @koshkin85 @umangtalking @PGrivasMDPhD @montypal @ASCO @OncoAlert @UCSF @UCSFCancer

So grateful for the incredible work @KidneyCancer does every single day for our patients and their families. 🙏 From advocacy to research to education, the Kidney Cancer Association truly meets people where they are — offering hope, knowledge & community at the moments that matter most. 🧬✨ Honored to support their mission. Together we keep pushing toward a cure! 💥🚀 #KidneyCancer #RCC #GUOncology @ASCO @OncoAlert @salvolarosa @radhachitale @UCSF

#MaryEllenTaplin @DanaFarber_GU with first plenary of the day @asco #ASCO26 — phase 3 of #PROTEUS — >2100 patients w high risk #prostatecancer, adt and apalutamide improved path CR and also a highly powered statistically significant MFS benefit. @oncoalert @urotoday @PCF_Science

@neerajaiims @Huntsman_GU with news splashing results of #TALAPRO3, talazoparib-enzalutamide vs enza for metastatic AR pathway sensitive HRR altered #prostatecancer. Practice changing. Concurrent @NEJM pub. Kudos to the team! 👏👏 @asco #ASCO26 @oncoalert @urotoday @oncbrothers

Congratulations @neerajaiims et al — concurrent @NEJM pub and @asco oral now in D1! @OncoAlert @urotoday @OncBrothers

This #ASCO26 feels different Exciting data but new life perspective Prioritizing what matters to my patients and my soul Better to be present than running across McCormick like a manic

Rounding out the session at #ASCO26, a fantastic talk from @ckcding : "Clinical Applications of Pathologic Biomarkers in GU Cancers" 👏 An invaluable pathologist's-eye view every GU oncologist should hear 🔬 Key pearls: 🔹 No single perfect assay — for MSI/dMMR and HER2 alike, each test (IHC, PCR, NGS, FISH) has real pros & cons, and many aren't standardized across labs 🔹 With T-DXd now approved for HER2 3+ solid tumors, accurate HER2 assessment in urothelial cancer matters more than ever 🔹 #RCC-specific pathology is advancing 🧬 — histologic growth pattern & BAP-1 loss carry real prognostic weight in clear cell RCC 🔹 Emerging tools to watch: circulating KIM-1 (a striking CheckMate 214 post-hoc signal — >30% drop at 3 wks tied to better ORR/PFS/OS) @VincentWenxinXu , Nectin-4, and AI digital pathology (ArteraAI/MMAI, CHAI, VisioCyt) 🤖 Bottom line: talk to your pathologists, know your assays, and prioritize the biomarkers that change decisions 🙌 #KidneyCancer #GUOnc #GUOncology @UCSF #DigitalPathology @ASCO @OncoAlert @urotoday

A superb State of the Art talk from @DrRanaMcKay at #ASCO26: "Neoadjuvant Treatment Strategies in Renal Cell Carcinoma" 👏 A clear, clinically grounded tour through where the field stands Key takeaways: 🔹 Most patients present with localized disease — but outcomes are heterogeneous, underscoring the need for better risk tools (Raj/Kattan nomogram) to select for trials 🔹 Neoadjuvant single-agent TKIs are feasible & tolerable, but radiographic responses are modest/variable and pathologic CR is exceedingly rare 🔹 IO before nephrectomy shows promise — 44% pathologic downgrading & 13% pCR in a multi-institutional series 🔹 The field needs a standardized, validated RCC-specific pathologic response framework that correlates with outcomes (Int'l Neoadjuvant Kidney Cancer Consortium) Bottom line: neoadjuvant therapy in #RCC remains investigational, but combination strategies are yielding a real pathologic response signal 🌟 Exciting space to watch! The future is bright 🌟 with innovative efforts like the NeoShift trial (@DrChoueiri) and the LUNAR platform (@DrRanaMcKay) poised to move neoadjuvant #RCC forward! Thank you for this masterclass, Rana! 🙌 #KidneyCancer #GUOnc #GUOncology @ASCO @OncoAlert @urotoday @JCO_ASCO

Don't miss this one at #ASCO26! 🚀 "State of the Art: Advances in Perioperative Management in Bladder and Kidney Cancers" — in Hall D1 📍 A timely, practice-shaping lineup spanning both disease sites: 🔹 Neoadjuvant treatment strategies in #RCC @DrRanaMcKay 🔹 Managing bladder cancer after a pathologic complete response #Dr.Brendan Guercio 🔹 Clinical applications of pathologic biomarkers in GU cancers — with an exciting focus on AI-driven pathology 🤖🔬 @ckcding 🔹 Panel Q&A to bring it all together Perioperative care is evolving fast — this is the session to catch up on where the field is headed 🙌 #KidneyCancer #BladderCancer #GUOnc #GUOncology @ASCO @urotoday @OncoAlert

A truly special moment at #ASCO26 🎉 ASCO President @ASCOPres Dr. Eric Small delivering his presidential address: "The Science and Practice of Translation: Improving Cancer Outcomes Worldwide" 🌍 Beyond being a brilliant oncologist and clinician, Eric is an extraordinary mentor and colleague — generous with his wisdom, endlessly dedicated to his patients, and a guiding force for so many of us in #GUOnc 🙌 Watching him lead ASCO on this global stage is nothing short of inspiring ✨ Congratulations, Eric — so very well deserved! 👏 #GUOncology #ASCO26 @UCSF @OncoAlert @JCO_ASCO @ASCO

A standout discussion from @brian_rini at #ASCO26: "Living Longer, Living Better — Can We Have It All?" 👏 A masterclass in turning data into the questions that actually matter for patients 🧠 Highlights that resonated: 🔹 A clarifying framework for the 3 components of peri-operative therapy in urothelial cancer — neoadjuvant, bladder-directed, adjuvant — and where ctDNA/imaging might guide us 🔹 RAD-IO in context: 12-mo DFS (84%) compares favorably to modern peri-op regimens, but follow-up is short in a curable disease⏳ 🔹 RAMPART: adjuvant IO is active in resected #RCC — but whether CTLA-4 adds benefit remains unclear, and we need OS + non-clear cell data ⏳ 🔹 A provocative, much-needed take on QOL: existing tools don't fully capture the patient experience — patient-defined toxicity categories & regret scores deserve prospective study 🎯 His parting message hit home: peri-operative EVP is transformative, and patients will accept real toxicity to be cured of MIBC. The challenge ahead is measuring "living better" in ways that truly reflect the patient experience 🙌 #KidneyCancer #BladderCancer #GUOnc #GUOncology @ASCO @urotoday @JCOOP_ASCO @kcCURE @OncoAlert

Starting the day 2 at #ASCO26 with a superb Clinical Science Symposium: "New Approaches to Curing Bladder and Kidney Cancer" 🚀 Happening NOW in Hall D2! Expertly chaired by @koshkin85 & @QianJanieQin 👏 A packed lineup spanning both disease sites: 🔹 Setting the stage: Where do we stand today? @srikalasridhar RAD-IO: durvalumab + chemoradiotherapy in bladder cancer (Dr.Nicholas James) 🔹 HRQoL with neoadjuvant/adjuvant enfortumab vedotin (Dr. Peter O'Donnell) 🔹 Durvalumab vs active monitoring for resected primary #RCC (Dr. James Larkin) 🔹 Decision regret & toxicity perception after adjuvant pembrolizumab in RCC (Dr. Elizabeth Nally) Capped by discussion from @brian_rini : "Living Longer, Living Better — Can We Have It All?" Can't wait! ☕️ #KidneyCancer #BladderCancer @ASCO @urotoday @OncoAlert

🚨 Live at #ASCO26! 🎉 So proud to see @DrRanaMcKay present the RADICAL trial (Alliance A031801) — a phase 2 randomized study of radium-223 + cabozantinib vs. cabozantinib alone in patients with #RCC & bone metastases 🦴 A creative bone-targeted approach to a tough clinical problem 👏 Bone mets occur in ~30% of #KidneyCancer pts & drive real morbidity. Results: the combination did not clear the prespecified futility boundary for SSE-free survival, and the trial closed at interim. ORR was essentially identical (~22% in both arms). Adding radium-223 didn't move bone outcomes. Toxicity ran higher with the combo (grade ≥3 66% vs 57%). No efficacy siHuge congrats to the whole team! 🙌@ascopost @JCOOP_ASCO @KellyNFitz

A masterclass in scientific discussion from @MVossMD at #ASCO26 👏 He skillfully wove together three #RCC studies and grounded each in what truly matters for our patients. He opened by underscoring the prognostic weight of bone metastases in #KidneyCancer 🦴 — the ideal frame for the session: 1️⃣ RADICAL (@DrRanaMcKay): radium-223 + cabozantinib in RCC with bone metastases 2️⃣ Cadonilimab + axitinib in advanced nccRCC: encouraging activity in a rare, hard-to-treat subtype (ORR 51.6%, DCR 96.8%) 3️⃣ KEYNOTE-564 ctDNA (@DrChoueiri): liquid biopsy and MRD detection in the adjuvant setting 🧬 Balanced, rigorous, and clinically grounded — exactly what elevates a discussant from good to outstanding. 🙌 #GUOnc #GUOncology @JCOPO_ASCO @JCO_ASCO