New US study reveals host of genes associated with kidney cancer

A new breakthrough in kidney cancer research has been achieved with a discovery of a significant number of genes associated with the disease.

Researchers from the Mayo Clinic in Florida have conducted a genomic analysis of clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC), the most common form of kidney cancer, in a group of 72 patients. A total of 31 genes that are key to the development, growth and spread of the cancer were identified.

Of these, eight had not been previously linked to kidney cancer, while an additional six were never known to be involved in any form of cancer at all. This represents the most extensive analysis to date of the role of gene expression in ccRCC tumour growth and metastasis.

Overexpressed genes were functionally tested in kidney cancer cells to ensure they were important to some aspect of the cancer process. This discovery could be important, as the ccRCC subtype accounts for 80 percent of all kidney cancer cases.

Study senior investigator Dr John Copland said: "We are releasing these discoveries to the scientific community so that a large effort can be mounted to find out more about these genes and how they can be effectively targeted."

Kidney cancer is the eighth most common cancer in adults in the UK, with around 9,300 people diagnosed with the condition annually.