Evaluation of the prognostic role of co-morbidities on disease outcome in renal cell carcinoma patients.

Background: Co-morbidities may induce local and systemic tumor progression of renal cell carcinoma (RCC); however, the prognostic impact of co-morbidities has not yet been well characterized.

Patients And Methods: RCC patients (n = 2206) surgically treated at three academic institutions in the US and Europe were included in the analysis. Presence of diabetes mellitus, hypertension, chronic kidney disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, coronary heart disease, and hypothyroidism were investigated for their association with clinicopathological features and cancer-specific survival.

Receptor activator of NF-κB (RANK)-mediated induction of metastatic spread and association with poor prognosis in renal cell carcinoma.

Background: Inhibition of the receptor activator of NF-κB ligand (RANKL) has become a standard of care supportive treatment to prevent skeletal related events in cancer patients. Moreover, RANKL inhibition has been implicated with better survival outcome in lung cancer, while RANKL expression induces tumor progression and metastatic spread in vivo in breast cancer. Whether RANK/RANKL may have an impact on the pathogenesis of clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is currently unknown.