Abstract:

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the most common type of malignant kidney tumor in adults, accounting for more than 90% of all renal malignancies. In its early stages, RCC is often asymptomatic and is frequently discovered incidentally during physical examinations or diagnostic imaging. While localized RCC can often be effectively treated with surgical resection, the prognosis for advanced or metastatic cases remains poor, as conventional therapies such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and targeted therapy often show suboptimal responses. As a highly immunogenic tumor, RCC is capable of evading immune surveillance through various mechanisms. Therefore, immune therapies, especially cell-based therapies at the forefront, have gained significant attention in recent years as emerging treatment modalities, showing great potential. Immune cell therapy enhances anti-tumor immune responses by utilizing the patient's immune system or exogenous immune cells to restore immune function, thereby effectively eliminating tumor cells. It has become an important research direction for RCC treatment. However, despite its promising clinical prospects, immune cell therapy still faces numerous challenges. Issues such as individual heterogeneity, immune-related adverse events, immune suppression in the tumor microenvironment, and post-treatment drug resistance continue to affect its clinical efficacy. This review summarizes the immune escape mechanisms in RCC, outlines the progress of RCC immune cell therapy, and analyzes its future prospects, aiming to provide insights and direction for better addressing the clinical challenges of refractory RCC.

Key words: renal cell carcinoma, cell therapy, immunotherapy, drug resistance