Selected tumor markers in the routine diagnosis of chromophobe renal cell carcinoma

Renal cell carcinoma is one of the most malignant tumors, affecting men more frequently than women and constituting nearly 90% of all kidney tumors. Chromophobe renal cell carcinoma has been described as a new histological type of renal cell carcinoma. Chromophobe renal cell carcinoma constitutes up to 5% of all cases of kidney cancer. It is characterized by a significant number of deletions in many chromosomes, as well as the loss of entire chromosomes. Chromophobe renal cell carcinoma arises from tubular cells or cells of the macula densa. In contrast to other types of kidney cancer, it occurs with equal frequency in men and women, mostly in the sixth decade of life. It is characterized by a relatively good prognosis and exhibits a low degree of malignancy. Histopathologic diagnosis of ChRCC can be a diagnostic challenge because these tumors may resemble oncocytoma or conventional cancer. Research by Mathers et al. proposed the use of cytokeratin 7 as a marker useful in the differentiation of these changes.