Reduced mRNA expression level of corticotropin-releasing hormone-binding protein is associated with aggressive human kidney cancer.

Background: Significance of Urocortin (Ucn or UcnI), Ucn2, Ucn3 and their receptors, Corticotropin Releasing Factor Receptor 1 and 2 (CRFR1 and CRFR2), and the binding protein, Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone-Binding Protein (CRHBP) in oncology is growing rapidly. The objective of our study was to assess the expression of the CRHBP mRNA and protein in renal cancer.

Methods: Tumoral tissues of 78 patients with clear cell renal cell cancer and their corresponding normal tissues were analyzed using quantitative mRNA expression analysis for detection of mRNA expression level.

SFRP1 CpG island methylation locus is associated with renal cell cancer susceptibility and disease recurrence.

Loss of the secreted Fzd-related protein 1 (SFRP1) and concurrent alteration of the SFRP1/WNT pathway are frequently observed in human cancers such as in renal cell cancer (RCC). Whether methylation of a SFRP1 CpG island locus in normal human solid tissues is associated with increased tissue specific cancer risk has not been determined to date. Here we measure the cancer risk attributable to SFRP1 DNA methylation in renal tissue.

GATA5 CpG island methylation in renal cell cancer: a potential biomarker for metastasis and disease progression.

Unlabelled: GATA5 CpG island (CGI) methylation and transcriptional inactivation is involved in colorectal and gastric cancer. Whether DNA methylation of GATA5 affects clinical pathology is still unclear. In the present study, we analysed, for the first time, CGI methylation in RCC and its association with clinicopathological parameters and progression-free survival of patients.

[Systemic and surgical management of metastatic renal cell carcinoma].

Several targeted therapies have become available for first-line (sunitinib, bevacizumab, pazopanib, temsirolimus) and second-line (sorafenib, pazopanib, everolimus) use in recent years. The superior outcomes achieved with these targeted agents have led to replacement of the formerly administered cytokines. New developments have raised the question of whether patients benefit from sequential therapies with tyrosine kinase inhibitors and/or whether combination regimes can improve clinical outcomes.

Partial nephrectomy using porcine small intestinal submucosa.

Background: Whenever technically feasible and oncologically justified, nephron-sparing surgery is the current standard of care for localized renal cell carcinomas (RCC). The main complications of partial nephrectomy, especially for large and centrally located tumors, are urinary leakage and parenchymal bleeding. We prospectively evaluated the pros and cons of using porcine small intestinal submucosa (SIS, Surgisis®) to close the renal defect after nephron-sparing surgery.

[Incidence and long-term prognosis of papillary renal cancer. Results of a retrospective multicenter study].

Objectives: Papillary renal cell carcinoma (pRCC) represents the largest subgroup of non-clear-cell kidney cancer. In this retrospective multicenter study, we assessed tumor characteristics and long-term prognosis of patients with pRCC in comparison with conventional clear-cell cancer (ccRCC).

Methods: We evaluated 2,804 patients who had undergone renal surgery for pRCC or ccRCC between 1990 and 2006.

Decreased galectin-8 is a strong marker for recurrence in urothelial carcinoma of the bladder.

Objective: To investigate galectin-8 expression patterns in normal urothelium and bladder cancer specimens and to elucidate its prognostic value.

Materials And Methods: 162 samples of non-muscle-invasive transitional cell carcinoma, 25 samples of muscle-invasive transitional cell carcinoma and 10 samples of normal urothelium were investigated by immunohistochemistry using tissue microarrays. Complete patient and tumor characteristics were compared with galectin-8 staining patterns.

[Overweight is an advantageous prognostic marker in patients with clear cell kidney cancer].

Objectives: Obesity increases the risk of developing renal cell carcinoma (RCC). We assessed whether different body mass index (BMI) levels and the body surface area (BSA) at the time of surgery had an effect on aggressiveness and long-term prognosis of RCC.

Methods: The study included 1,595 RCC patients with complete information about their BMI who had undergone surgery for renal cell cancer at the University Hospitals in Hannover (MHH) and Marburg between 1990 and 2005.

Caveolin 1 mRNA is overexpressed in malignant renal tissue and might serve as a novel diagnostic marker for renal cancer.

Background & Aim: Caveolae play a significant role in disease phenotypes, such as cancer, diabetes, bladder dysfunction and muscular dystrophy. The aim of this study was to elucidate the expression of caveolin (CAV)1 in the development of renal cell cancer (RCC) and to determine a possible prognostic relevance for optimal clinical management.

Material & Methods: 109 RCC and 81 corresponding normal tissue specimens from the same kidney were collected from patients undergoing surgery for renal tumors and subjected to total RNA extraction.

Does male sex influence the prognosis of patients with renal cancer?

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of sex on stage, grade, subtype, and prognosis of patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

Patients And Methods: This study included 1,810 patients treated by surgery for RCC at the University Hospitals of Hannover and Marburg between 1990 and 2005. The median follow-up was 54 months.

[Ewing's sarcoma of the kidneys with simultaneous seminoma].

Extraosseous Ewing's sarcoma (EOE) is rarely observed in the urinogenital tract, which results in only sporadic descriptions of primary EOE of the kidneys in the literature with cytologic analyses. A timely diagnosis and differentiated therapy of this aggressive disease are compromised by its infrequent appearance and scarce available data. With a simultaneously diagnosed seminoma our case report supports and extends further the data collected so far.

Is there a need to further subclassify pT2 renal cell cancers as implemented by the revised 7th TNM version?

Background: The recently modified TNM classification of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) (7th edition) has implemented a subdivision of pT2 tumours into stage pT2a (>7 or ≤10 cm) versus pT2b disease (>10 cm).

Objective: Our aim was to evaluate whether this subdivision of pT2 RCC is justified due to a clinical prognosis divergence between the two groups (pT2a vs pT2b)

Design, Setting, And Participants: In total, 5122 patients were subjected to either radical nephrectomy or nephron-sparing surgery at three centres in Germany (University Hospitals of Hannover, Homburg/Saar, and Marburg). Patients were reclassified into stage pT2a and pT2b according to the maximum tumour diameter as suggested by the 7th revised version of the TNM classification system.

Fibronectin 1 mRNA expression correlates with advanced disease in renal cancer.

Background: Fibronectin 1 (FN1) is a glycoprotein involved in cellular adhesion and migration processes. The aim of this study was to elucidate the role of FN1 in development of renal cell cancer (RCC) and to determine a prognostic relevance for optimal clinical management.

Methods: 212 renal tissue samples (109 RCC, 86 corresponding tissues from adjacent normal renal tissue and 17 oncocytomas) were collected from patients undergoing surgery for renal tumors and subjected to total RNA extraction.

Obesity is associated with improved survival in patients with organ-confined clear-cell kidney cancer.

Objectives: Obesity increases the risk of developing renal cell carcinoma (RCC); however, it remains unclear whether obesity is associated with RCC aggressiveness and survival. We assessed whether different body mass index (BMI) levels at the time of surgery had an effect on long-term prognosis of RCC patients.

Methods: We evaluated 1,338 clear-cell RCC patients with complete information about their BMI, who had undergone surgery for renal cell cancer at the University Hospitals in Hannover and Marburg between 1991 and 2005.

Present state of target therapy for disseminated renal cell carcinoma.

Both experimental and clinical researches focusing on advanced kidney cancer have increased continuously since the successful introduction of targeted therapy in the treatment of advanced metastatic renal cell carcinoma. Being refractory to conventional hormone therapy, chemotherapy or radiotherapy, renal cell carcinoma has become a model tumor for the development and evaluation of diverse novel targeted drugs. This review highlights currently available agents and summarizes evidence-based data regarding their effectiveness in metastatic renal cell carcinoma.

External validation of the preoperative anatomical classification for prediction of complications related to nephron-sparing surgery.

Purpose: Ficarra et al. (Eur Urol 56:786-793, 2009) published a preoperative anatomical classification (PADUA) to assess the impact of anatomical parameters of renal tumors on complication rate of nephron-sparing surgery (NSS). The objective of this study is to provide a bi-center external validation of this classification using the technique of hilar arterial clamping during open and laparoscopic NSS and to correlate the PADUA score to the ischemia time.

Maspin protein expression correlates with tumor progression in non-muscle invasive bladder cancer.

Maspin is a 42-kDa protein that belongs to the family of serine protease inhibitors. It is involved in various physiological processes. In cancer tissue, Maspin was found to influence angiogenesis, tumor growth, metastasis and the prognosis of tumor patients.

Altered expression of Akt signaling pathway parameters in prostate needle biopsies derived from benign, adjacent and cancerous tissue.

PTEN, p-Akt and p27kip1 are known to be altered in prostate cancer. The aim of the present study was to determine the addition of molecular markers to a classical histopathological approach to enhance the sensitivity in detection of malignant or premalignant lesions within prostatic biopsies. Forty-two fine needle biopsies from malignant, tumor adjacent and benign areas were obtained from 14 patients scheduled for a prostatic biopsy.

[Galectin expression in urological cancer. Diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic potential].

Galectins are a family of 15 proteins. They interact with glycoproteins in both the extracellular and intracellular milieu and regulate various biological cycles including cell growth, cell differentiation, cell adhesion and apoptosis. In biomolecular studies certain patterns of expression showed a correlation with metastasis and apoptosis.

Urinary collecting system invasion is no independent prognostic factor in renal cell carcinoma.

Objectives: To assess the specific impact of urinary collecting system (UCS) invasion on the long-term prognosis of patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

Methods: We evaluated 1,678 patients with complete information about UCS invasion of their primary RCC who had undergone renal surgery between 1990 and 2005 in two high volume centers (MH Hannover and Marburg, Germany); the mean follow-up was 5.4 years.

[Superselective transarterial coil embolization for therapy of high-flow priapism: a case report].

We present the case of a 22 year old man who developed a permanent penile erection after a blunt perineal trauma. Conservative treatment in terms of cooling, compression and puncture of the cavernosal corpora with blood aspiration failed to resolve the priapism. Angiography confirmed the diagnosis of high-flow priapism caused by an arteriovenous fistula.

Sorafenib reveals efficacy in sequential treatment of metastatic renal cell cancer.

Metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) is a highly vascularized tumor with a generally poor prognosis. It is largely resistant to conventional cancer treatment, including most schemes of hormonal and cytokine therapy as well as to modern chemotherapy. Although IFN-alpha has been the first choice in mRCC treatment strategies for more than a decade, recent recommendations of the European Association of Urology focus on so-called molecular-targeted therapies, with multikinase inhibitors, such as sorafenib and sunitinib, blocking the progression of cell proliferation and tumor angiogenesis, as preferential therapy.

[Current state of systemic therapy of metastatic renal cell carcinoma].

The past 5 years were marked by fundamental changes in the systemic therapy of metastatic renal cell carcinoma. Up to the end of the last decade cytokine-based chemotherapy was the only, even if only moderately effective systemic therapy for metastatic renal cell carcinoma. Currently there are five new approved drug releases of so-called targeted substances, which function on a molecular based therapeutic mechanism.

[Partial k-space sampling with zero filling used with phase-contrast flow measurements: in vivo and in vitro validation].

Purpose: To validate the technique of partial k-space sampling and zero filling with phase-contrast flow measurements as compared to measurements with full k-space sampling.

Materials And Methods: In vitro: A laminar flow phantom was utilized to evaluate the effect of partial k-space sampling on the accuracy, precision and signal-to-noise ratio of phase-contrast flow measurements. In vivo: The effect of partial k-space sampling on the quantification of cardiac output (n = 40 patients) and the duration of the scan were evaluated in the ascending aorta (n = 37) and pulmonary trunk (n = 34) in a prospective study.