Disease information

The two most common types of kidney cancer are renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and transitional cell carcinoma (TCC). The first originates in the renal tubule, and is responsible for approximately 80% of all renal cancers, while TCC originates in the renal pelvis. Risk factors for kidney cancer include smoking, obesity, a family history of kidney cancer, having a kidney disease that needs dialysis, hepatitis C, and previous treatment for testicular or cervical cancer. The five-year survival rate, when cancer is confined to the kidney, is 92%; if it has spread to the surrounding lymph nodes, 65%; if it has metastasized, 12%. Surgery is the most common treatment.

Kidney cancer does not often respond to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Immunotherapy is now used in the treatment of kidney cancer, and it is successful in 10-15% of cases. Immune checkpoint inhibitors are also in trials for kidney cancer. Primary resistance to immune-checkpoint inhibitors, however, has been related to an abnormal gut microbial composition.