THE USE OF MOLECULAR-GENETIC ANALYSIS IN THE DIAGNOSIS OF RENAL-CELL CARCINOMA

The most common genetic aberration seen in nonpapillary renal cell car cinoma is believed to be the loss or inactivation of allelic material on the short arm of chromosome 3 (3p). Two patients underwent nephrect omy at our institution, each initially receiving a histologic diagnosi s of renal cell carcinoma. Molecular analysis of these tissues reveale d no genetic deletion on 3p, prompting further histologic and immunohi stochemical evaluation of the original specimens. These additional stu dies confirmed alternate histologies other than renal cell carcinoma i n each case. These data suggest that the loss of genetic material on t he short arm of chromosome 3 may be specific for nonpapillary renal ce ll carcinoma. Molecular analysis may prove to be a useful adjunct in e stablishing the diagnosis in renal neoplasms with equivocal histologie s.