New immunotherapy combo aims to boost kidney cancer surgery success

Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.

Inclusion Criteria: * Patients must have biopsy-confirmed, non-metastatic, high-risk renal cell carcinoma (RCC) with a clear cell component, defined as clinical stage T2N0, T3N0, T4N0, or any T stage with N1 disease (i.e., T2a-T4NanyM0 or TanyN1M0), and no evidence of metastatic disease * Participants with resectable RCC are eligible, including those who have previously undergone surgical resection for RCC and subsequently developed resectable recurrent disease. Patients must be candidates for further curative-intent surgical resection. Prior systemic therapy for RCC (including VEGF-targeted therapy, immune checkpoint inhibitors, HIF-2α inhibitors, or other systemic anticancer therapies) is not allowed * Age ≥ 18 years. Because no dosing or adverse event data are currently available on the use of botensilimab in combination with balstilimab in patients \< 18 years of age, children are excluded from this study * Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status ≤ 2 (or Karnofsky ≥ 60%) * Patients must be considered suitable for curative-intent surgical resection of RCC, including radical or partial nephrectomy, as determined by the urology team and the treating physician according to standard clinical guidelines * Absolute neutrophil count ≥ 1,000/mcL * Platelets ≥ 100,000/mcL * Total bilirubin ≤ 1.5 x institutional upper limit of normal (ULN) * Aspartate aminotransferase (AST)(serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase \[SGOT\])/alanine aminotransferase (ALT)(serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase \[SGPT\]) ≤ 3 x institutional ULN * Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) 50 mL/min (calculated using the 2021 Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration (CKD-EPI) creatinine equation) * Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients on effective anti-retroviral therapy with undetectable viral load within 6 months are eligible for this trial * For patients with evidence of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, the HBV viral load must be undetectable on suppressive therapy, if indicated * Patients with a history of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection must have been treated and cured. For patients with HCV infection who are currently on treatment, they are eligible if they have an undetectable HCV viral load * Patients with a prior or concurrent malignancy whose natural history or treatment does not have the potential to interfere with the safety or efficacy assessment of the investigational regimen are eligible for this trial. Also including a prior history of renal cell carcinoma * Patients with known history or current symptoms of cardiac disease, or history of treatment with cardiotoxic agents, should have a clinical risk assessment of cardiac function using the New York Heart Association Functional Classification. To be eligible for this trial, patients should be class II or better * Patients must be scheduled to undergo either partial or radical nephrectomy as part of treatment plan * The effects of botensilimab and balstilimab on the developing human fetus are unknown. For this reason, women of child-bearing potential and men must agree to use adequate contraception (hormonal or barrier method of birth control; abstinence) prior to study entry and for the duration of study participation and 4 months after completion of treatment. Should a woman become pregnant or suspect she is pregnant while she or her partner is participating in this study, she should inform her treating physician immediately. Men treated or enrolled on this protocol must also agree to use adequate contraception prior to the study, for the duration of study participation, and 4 months after completion of botensilimab and balstilimab administration. All patients of childbearing potential must undergo a blood or urine pregnancy test within 14 days prior to receiving the first dose of botensilimab and balstilimab to confirm they are not pregnant. If dosing is delayed beyond this window, the pregnancy test must be repeated to ensure results remain current * Ability to understand and the willingness to sign a written informed consent document. Legally authorized representatives may sign and give informed consent on behalf of study participants * Availability of pre-treatment archival slides or tissue blocks is required for inclusion in the study Exclusion Criteria: * Patients who have suspected or proven metastatic renal cell carcinoma * Patients who have not recovered from adverse events due to prior anti-cancer therapy (i.e., have residual toxicities \> grade 1) with the exception of alopecia * Patients who are receiving any other investigational agents * History of allergic reactions attributed to compounds of similar chemical or biologic composition to botensilimab or balstilimab * Patients with uncontrolled intercurrent illness or any other significant condition(s) that would make participation in this protocol unreasonably hazardous * Pregnant women are excluded from this study because botensilimab and balstilimab are agents with the potential for teratogenic or abortifacient effects. Because there is an unknown but potential risk for adverse events in nursing infants secondary to treatment of the mother with botensilimab or balstilimab, breastfeeding should be discontinued if the mother is treated with botensilimab or balstilimab * Patients without a clear cell component in their baseline kidney biopsy or non-clear cell renal cell carcinoma (RCC) are excluded from this study * Patients who have received prior treatment with an anti-PD-1, anti-programmed cell death protein ligand 1 (PD-L1), anti-PD-L2, anti-CTLA-4 antibody, or any other antibody or drug specifically targeting T-cell co-stimulation or immune checkpoint pathways * Patients who have undergone major surgery within 28 days prior to the start of the study * Patients with any active or recent history of a known or suspected autoimmune disease or recent history of a syndrome that required systemic corticosteroids (\> 10 mg daily prednisone equivalent) or immunosuppressive medications within 14 days prior to first dose of study drug; the exception would be for syndromes which would not be expected to recur in the absence of an external trigger. Inhaled steroids and adrenal replacement steroid doses \> 10 mg daily prednisone equivalents are permitted in the absence of active autoimmune disease * Patients with vitiligo or type I diabetes mellitus or residual hypothyroidism due to autoimmune thyroiditis only requiring hormone replacement are permitted to enroll * Patients with a baseline corrected QT interval (Fridericia's corrected QT interval \[QTcF\]) \> 480 ms on screening electrocardiogram (ECG), a history of congenital long QT syndrome, or clinically significant cardiac arrhythmias will be excluded