Centre for Cancer Research

Kidney cancer

Wilms tumor is the most common childhood kidney cancer, or nephroblastoma. It is a classic model for the connection between normal cellular development and cancer. Clusters of cells, called blastemas, in the kidneys of patients who develop Wilms tumor fail to differentiate properly, and form malignant metastatic tumors. Two genes that play an important role in the development of Wilms tumor are the tumor suppressors and transcription factors, Wilms tumor 1 (WT1) and p53. Scientists from the Centre for Cancer Research are looking at the regulation of these genes and the role they play in tumorigenesis.

Scientists are also researching renal cell carcinoma (RCC), the most common form of kidney cancer in adults. Our studies concentrate on interferon which is essential for immune defense against disease. Interferons have been used clinically against a variety of diseases including solid tumors like RCC. However, only some RCC tumors are sensitive to interferon treatment. The reasons for this remain unknown. By comparing sensitive and resistant renal cell carcinoma cell lines, scientists have found a transcriptional repressor called PLZF (promyleocytic zinc finger protein) which has not been implicated in the interferon response before. Cancer Research scientists are investigating how this gene regulates the interferon response in RCC.