Prevalence
On January 1, 2006, in the United States there were approximately 266,068 men and women alive who had a history of cancer of the kidney and renal pelvis—156,166 men and 109,902 women. This includes any person alive on January 1, 2006 who had been diagnosed with cancer of the kidney and renal pelvis at any point before January 1, 2006 and includes persons with active disease and those who are cured of their disease. Prevalence can also be expressed as a percentage and it can also be calculated for a specific amount of time before January 1, 2006 such as diagnosed within 5 years of January 1, 2006.

References
All statistics in this report are based on SEER incidence and NCHS mortality statistics. Most can be found within:

Horner MJ, Ries LAG, Krapcho M, Neyman N, Aminou R, Howlader N, Altekruse SF, Feuer EJ, Huang L, Mariotto A, Miller BA, Lewis DR, Eisner MP, Stinchcomb DG, Edwards BK (eds). SEER Cancer Statistics Review, 1975-2006, National Cancer Institute. Bethesda, MD, http://seer.cancer.gov/csr/1975_2006/, based on November 2008 SEER data submission, posted to the SEER web site.



Proteins in Urine May Lead to Earlier Diagnosis of RCC
ST. LOUIS—-A team of researchers at Washington University School of Medicine has identified a pair of proteins excreted in the urine that could lead to an earlier and more accurate diagnosis of renal cell carcinoma. The research team focused on 2 proteins previously found in kidney tumors—aquaporin-1 (AQP1) and adipophilin (ADFP)—and discovered a large amount of these proteins in urine samples from kidney patients.

Experts believe identifying and treating kidney cancer early may put a large dent in the more than 13,000 people who die from the disease annually in the US. More testing is required, researchers say, but if research continues to demonstrate that the 2 urine-based proteins are good markers of kidney cancer, it may soon be possible for
routine screening of the disease.

Gene Discovery Could Lead to New Treatments
for Wilms Tumor
LONDON—Two genes, MYCN and FBXW7, provide an important insight into how the disease develops and could lead to new treatments for children with a more aggressive form of Wilms tumor. Wilms tumor is the most common form of kidney cancer in children. Each year 80 children are diagnosed with the disease in the UK and around 90% can be successfully treated.

Researchers led by Professor Kathy Pritchard-Jones at The Institute of Cancer Research found the 2 genes by scanning the chromosomes of Wilms’ tumors from nearly 100 children with the disease. They were looking for alterations in the number of copies of thousands of genes that could help them to work out if these genes were linked to a particular type of the disease. They found that children with a Wilms tumor who have an increased number of copies of the gene MYCN are more likely to have high-risk forms of the disease. KCJ