Kidney cancer genomes

An integrative genomic analysis of a large collection of renal cell carcinoma samples from patients in Japan is reported this week in Nature Genetics. The study identifies new genetic pathways driving renal cell carcinoma that could be potential targets for therapies.

There are approximately 100,000 deaths worldwide from renal cell carcinoma each year. There are several subtypes of this form of cancer, with clear cell renal cell carcinoma being the most common subtype. Presently, there are limited non-surgical interventions for this cancer.

Seishi Ogawa and colleagues sequenced the genomes and/or exomes of 106 paired tumor and normal samples of clear cell renal cell carcinoma from patients. The study also reports analysis of gene expression, DNA methylation and copy-number profiles of more than 100 tumor and normal pairs.