Whereas kidney-specific deletion of the Bhd gene in mice is known to result in polycystic kidney disease (PKD) and renal cell carcinoma, the roles of Fnip1 in renal cell development and function are unclear.
Common genetic aberrations in renal cell carcinomas (RCCs) include loss of function of the VHL gene in clear-cell RCC, overexpression of the c-MET gene in papillary RCC type I, deficiency in the FH gene in papillary RCC type II and loss of heterozygozity of the BHD gene in chromophobe RCC.
However, investigation of the Mendelian single-gene syndromes, like von Hippel Lindau (VHL: VHL gene), hereditary papillary renal carcinoma (HPRC: c-Met gene), Birt-Hogg-Dubé (BHD: BHD gene), and hereditary leiomyomatosis renal cell cancer (HLRCC: fumarate hydratase gene) provides an opportunity to develop pathway specific therapies.
This rat model of hereditary RCC provides a useful tool for analyzing the series of events leading to renal tumorigenesis and for studying BHD gene functions.
However, we did not detect evidence of epigenetic silencing of BHD in 19 CRC and RCC cell lines, and BHD promoter region hypermethylation was not detected in 20 primary RCCs.