Renal cell carcinoma

Our plain-English summary of Renal cell carcinoma, by P.A. Godley, M.A. Escobar (Current Opinion in Oncology, 1998).

The study

• Authors: P.A. Godley, M.A. Escobar
• Journal: Current Opinion in Oncology
• Published: 1998;10(3):261-5
• Type of article: Review
• Cited by: 16 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Abstract

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) continues to be a frustrating tumor for clinicians to manage and treat. Progress has been made in the identification of risk factors, particularly dietary risk factors. An increased risk has been seen with frequent consumption of fried meat and poultry. Citrus fruits, vitamin C, beta-carotene, and alpha-tocopherol have demonstrated a protective effect against RCC. Other factors that have been associated with the risk of RCC are smoking (which doubles the risk), obesity, hypertension, and exposure to asbestos and petroleum products. Response rates for systemic treatment of RCC continue to hover at about 20%; however, some nonchemotherapy treatments may provide palliation with few side effects. In addition, lower dose combinations of interleukin-2 and interferon alfa may be as beneficial as higher dose regimens, but with less toxicity. Molecular prognostic factors, including proliferation markers, karyometric analyses, oncogenes, and cell adhesion molecules and proteases are areas of intense investigation and may provide mechanisms for identifying patients who require more (or less) aggressive treatment.

In plain English

This article was a review, not a new study. The authors summarized recently published research on renal cell carcinoma (RCC), a kidney cancer, covering possible causes, systemic (whole-body) treatments, surgery, and markers that might predict outcome. Asbestos came up in a single statement, repeated in the opening overview and in the section on causes. The authors listed smoking (which they said doubles the risk), obesity, hypertension, and exposure to asbestos and petroleum products as factors that have been associated with RCC risk, citing other publications. The article gave no figures, fiber types or exposure levels for asbestos. Among the studies reviewed, a Swedish case-control study linked frequent eating of fried or sautéed meat and poultry with higher risk. A study of 23 RCC patients with very high trichloroethene exposure found changes in the von Hippel-Lindau tumor-suppressor gene in all of them. The authors reported that response rates to systemic treatment remained at about 20%. They concluded that research on risk factors, particularly diet, provided clues for prevention, and that results of systemic treatment continued to be unimpressive.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Narrative review of published literature on renal cell carcinoma (Current Opinion series), not an original study
• Who was studied: No study population of its own. The authors reviewed published studies on renal cell carcinoma, mostly from 1996 to 1997, covering epidemiology, treatment, surgery and prognosis.
• Exposure: Asbestos was mentioned in a single statement, which appears twice (in the opening overview and in the Etiology section). It is listed as one of several factors associated with RCC risk, alongside smoking, obesity, hypertension and petroleum products. No fiber type, job or dose was given. Other exposures discussed were diet and trichloroethene.
• Main results:
  • The authors stated, citing other publications (references 1, 11 and 12), that smoking (which they said doubles the risk), obesity, hypertension, and exposure to asbestos and petroleum products have been associated with RCC risk. No asbestos-specific numbers were reported.
  • The authors wrote that these risk-factor findings were supported by a prospective mortality study of almost 1 million patients (reference 13).
  • A Swedish case-control study reviewed by the authors found an increased RCC risk with frequent consumption of fried or sautéed meat and poultry, but not with total meat consumption.
  • A reviewed study of 23 RCC patients with histories of very high trichloroethene exposure found aberrations of the von Hippel-Lindau tumor-suppressor gene in all of them.
  • The authors reported that response rates for systemic treatment of RCC remained at about 20%.
  • In a reviewed phase II study of low-dose subcutaneous IL-2 and intramuscular interferon alfa in 20 patients with metastatic RCC, the overall response rate was 20%, with one (5%) complete response and three (15%) partial responses, and only mild toxicity.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that investigations of possible risk factors for RCC, particularly dietary ones, provide clues for future prevention efforts. They also concluded that results of systemic treatment continue to be unimpressive, although advances may come from new approaches.

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Carcinoma.

Related studies

• The epidemiology of renal cell carcinoma — L. Lipworth, R.E. Tarone, et al. (2006)
• Occupational risk factors for renal cell carcinoma: agent-specific results from a case-control study in Germany. MURC Study Group. Multicenter urothelial and renal cancer study — B. Pesch, J. Haerting, et al. (2000)
• Genomic profiling of the genes on chromosome 3p in sporadic clear cell renal cell carcinoma — Y. Togo, Y. Yoshikawa, et al. (2016)
• Carbonic anhydrase IX is expressed in mesothelioma and metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma of the lung — M.L. Ramsey, B.J. Yuh, et al. (2012)
• Occupational exposure to dusts and risk of renal cell carcinoma — S. Karami, P. Boffetta, et al. (2011)
• Value of PAX8, PAX2, napsin A, carbonic anhydrase IX, and claudin-4 immunostaining in distinguishing pleural epithelioid mesothelioma from metastatic renal cell carcinoma — N.G. Ordóñez (2013)

Browse more research in Current Opinion in Oncology, or return to medical research.