Some new research that has come out of Sweden has shown that the activity of four specific genes in kidney cancer cancer cells seems to be able to predict the risk of the tumour spreading and the patient’s chances of survival. The researchers are based at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and the preclinical study was published in Nature Communications.

The study looks at four genes to see if there is higher production of these genes. It looks at whether this can predict whether the tumour will spread to the bones and whether it can predict survival. The genes they looked at were SAA1, SAA2, APOL1 and MET. If there is higher production of all these genes at the same time, this suggests that the patient has a greater risk of developing a tumour that spreads and a poorer survival outcome.

“This could potentially become a tool to gain a better understanding of the course of the disease at an early stage. Patients with a cancer profile with a high probability of spreading could then be monitored more closely, to quickly detect and treat any growth of the tumour,” says Ninib Baryawno, senior researcher at the Department of Women’s and Children’s Health, Karolinska Institutet.

Read more in Science Daily here