A novel "Nihon" rat model of a Mendelian dominantly inherited renal cell carcinoma

A novel rat model of hereditary renal cell carcinoma (RC) was found in a ra t colony of the Sprague-Dawley strain in Japan, and named the "Nihon" rat, In this strain, RCs develop from early preneoplastic lesions, which begin t o appear at 4 weeks of age, forming adenomas by the age of 16 weeks. The RC s are predominantly of clear cell type. Southern blot, northern blot and SS CP analyses revealed no change in the Tsc1, Tsc2, VHL, and c-Met genes. Thu s, the Nihon rat should be a valuable experimental model for understanding renal carcinogenesis, especially clear cell type, which is common among hum an RCs.