This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Jones, J. Articles by Libermann, T. A. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Jones, J. Articles by Libermann, T. A.

Genomics of Renal Cell Cancer: The Biology Behind and the Therapy Ahead

Authors' Affiliations: ¹ Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Genomics Center and Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center Cancer Proteomics Core, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts and ² Department of Urology and Pediatric Urology, Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany

Requests for reprints: Towia A. Libermann, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Genomics Center, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Harvard Institutes of Medicine, 4 Blackfan Circle, Boston, MA 02115. Phone: 617-667-3393; Fax: 617-975-5299; E-mail: tliberma{at}bidmc.harvard.edu.

Renal cell cancer (RCC) is the most lethal of the urological cancers and accounts for 3% of all adult malignancies. Despite numerous recent advances in diagnostic imaging, surgical therapy, and basic molecular understanding, many patients still experience metastatic disease. For metastatic disease patients, response rates to conventional therapies rarely exceed 15% to 25% and are associated with serious adverse effects. The recent development of novel targeted therapies based on the precise biological pathways deregulated in a particular patient has paved the way for individualized, targeted patient management. Nevertheless, to achieve this goal, it is important to delineate the molecular mechanisms underlying cancer development and progression. Genomic approaches have revolutionized the field of cancer research and have led to the rapid discovery of multiple, parallel disease hypotheses, which ultimately have to be validated in large cohorts of patients and in downstream biological experiments for translation into clinical applications. The variable course of RCC and, until recently, a paucity of therapeutic options in the event of metastasis have led to the search for diagnostic and prognostic markers. We and others have used transcriptional profiling to classify different subtypes of RCC and to identify subtype- and metastasis-specific gene signatures predictive for outcome. We discuss herein recent genomic approaches to RCC and the emerging biological pathways underlying RCC development and progression. We also speculate how genomics may affect drug development and the management of patients with RCC.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				S.-P. Lin, A. J. Bierhals, and J. S. Lewis Jr Best Cases from the AFIP: Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma RadioGraphics, November 1, 2007; 27(6): 1801 - 1807. [Full Text] [PDF]