Dolph Lundgren says a missed ALK mutation changed the course of his kidney cancer after the disease returned and spread by 2020. A second opinion led to alectinib, and the treatment shrank most of his tumors within a year.
Sweden, 2015, and the first surgery
“I was first diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2015,” Lundgren said, recalling that he was “in Sweden about to enter a Gumball race, actually, it was a bit shocking.” Surgery removed the tumor in his left kidney, and he was declared cancer free afterward.
That early clearance made the 2020 turn harder to absorb. By then, the cancer had returned and spread, and he was told he had only a few years to live.
Dr. Alexandra Drakaki and the missed test
Dr. Alexandra Drakaki reviewed old tissue samples and found the previously missed ALK mutation. That finding redirected treatment away from ineffective traditional immunotherapy and toward alectinib, a targeted therapy tied to the mutation itself.
The practical takeaway for patients with renal cell carcinoma is straightforward: a second look at older samples can change the treatment path when standard options do not. In Lundgren’s case, the missed marker was the difference between a dead end and a therapy matched to the tumor.
90% of tumors in one year
Within a year of alectinib, 90% of his tumors dramatically shrank. Lundgren said, “You end up thinking about your own death and didn’t know what was going to happen.”
He has now been cancer-free for three years. For anyone navigating a kidney cancer diagnosis, his case points to a plain next step: ask whether archived tissue has been fully reviewed for an ALK mutation when the first treatment path stalls.
