How did researchers achieve complete remission of metastatic, treatment-resistant kidney cancer in a 17-year-old patient using personalized T-cell therapy, and what clinical trial has been planned as a result?

Researchers at the Hopp Children’s Cancer Center Heidelberg (KiTZ), Heidelberg University Hospital, and the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) achieved complete remission in a 17-year-old patient with advanced, treatment-resistant nephroblastoma (kidney cancer) using a personalized T-cell therapy that targets the cancer protein PRAME . The case was published in the New England Journal of Medicine on August 12, 2026 .

How the therapy worked

• Target selection: The patient's tumor was found to carry the PRAME protein, a cancer-testis antigen that is commonly expressed in many cancers but rarely in normal tissues, making it a suitable immunotherapy target .
• T-cell engineering: The patient's own T cells were collected and genetically modified in the laboratory at the National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT) Heidelberg, led by Patrick Schmidt, to express a T-cell receptor (TCR) that specifically recognizes PRAME . The PRAME-directed TCR was provided by the biotechnology company Immatics .