Investigators at the UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center have received an $800,000 grant from the V Foundation to find new ways to treat and prevent a severe form of kidney cancer associated with a hereditary syndrome caused by mutations in the fumarate hydratase (FH) gene. The grant supports research, led by Dr. Heather Christofk, director of Basic and Translational Research at the UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Dr.

Brian Shuch, director of the Kidney Cancer Program and the Alvin & Carrie Meinhardt Endowed Chair in Kidney Cancer Research at UCLA, focused on hereditary leiomyomatosis and renal cell cancer (HLRCC). This genetic condition leads to an aggressive kidney cancer and other manifestations such as painful skin tumors (leiomyomas) and large uterine fibroids. The incidence of HLRCC is more common than previously thought, often detected through genetic testing.

However, there are currently limited treatment options and no effective prevention strategies. Patients with HLRCC face a high risk of developing kidney cancer at a young age and uterine fibroids often lead to hysterectomy in young women impairing their fertility. Our goal is to identify treatments that can either prevent the onset of cancer and the benign manifestations or manage its progression more effectively.

" Dr. Brian Shuch, Director of the Kidney Cancer Program and the Alvin & Carrie Meinhardt Endowed Chair in Kidney Cancer Research at UCLA The team plan to open a clinical.