Deoxyribonucleic acid content and medroxyprogesterone acetate treatment in metastatic renal cell carcinoma

Renal cancer and tumoral markers: Biological features and prognostic implications

In this work we have examined the studies carried out on tumoral markers of renal carcinoma, in order to point out useful characteristics for understanding the evolution of the tumour. We have examined the cytogenetic studies, the molecular oncology, the studies of cellular proliferation and the DNA analysis, reporting our own experience on the last method. However clashing opinions stili exist on the predictive ability of these investigations. DNA analysis by cytometry seems to be the most applicable one at a clinical level.

Flow cytometric DNA analysis of interleukin-2 responsive renal cell carcinoma

Adoptive immunotherapy using interleukin-2 (IL-2) based therapy can result in marked tumor regression in some patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma. DNA flow cytometry has not been previously studied as a predictor of outcome of this therapy. Archival paraffin embedded tumors were studied in 23 IL-2 treated patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma. Eleven patients were complete responders (CR) and 12 were nonresponders (NR). In the CR group, 4/11 (40%) were diploid and 7/11 (60%) were aneuploid. In the NR group, 9/12 (75%) were diploid and 3/12 (25%) were aneuploid. Although there was a trend that patients with an aneuploid DNA pattern were more likely to undergo a complete response, ploidy pattern alone was not significantly predictive of response (p2 = 0.10, Fischer's exact test). When combining ploidy pattern with other variables that were predictive for complete response, such as good performance status and a higher pretreatment weight, prediction of complete response was not improved by including ploidy. This preliminary report suggests that DNA ploidy does not appear to provide any additional information concerning responsiveness to IL-2 based immunotherapy beyond that obtained by performance status and pretreatment weight in this patient population.