Kidney cancer: Past, present, and future

Abstract

f d c o s c p This article is based on the Whitmore Lecture that I elivered to the Society of Urologic Oncology in May 2006. r. Whitmore was a great man whose clinical innovation nd intellect spawned the field of urologic oncology. He was personal hero of mine and it was an honor to deliver this ecture established in his name. The topic for my lecture was one that has interested and ntrigued me for over three decades. Renal cell carcinoma RCC) accounts for 3% of all malignant tumors, and more han 39,000 new cases and 13,000 deaths are now occurring nnually in the United States [1]. For reasons that are nclear, RCC age-adjusted incidence has been rising for the ast 30 years within the United States and most European ations at an annual rate of approximately 3% [2]. The field of renal cell carcinoma is undergoing a revoution based on several exciting advances during the past ecade [3,4]. These include the discovery of the von Hippelindau (VHL) gene and demonstration of its central role in he development of clear-cell RCC, delineation of molecuar mechanisms controlling tumor-associated angiogenesis, etter understanding of the pathologic and clinical factors ssociated with prognosis for patients with RCC, the develpment of nephron-sparing and minimally invasive theraies for localized disease, and the advent of targeted moecular therapy for advanced disease.