Association Between Renal Cell Carcinoma and Myelodysplastic Syndromes: Epigenetic Underpinning?

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and certain myeloid malignancies are both characterized by widespread aberrant DNA hypermethylation. After clinical observations of patients with a personal history of both malignancies, we sought to explore a potential association, and to describe the clinical characteristics of these patients.

Mayo Clinic's 'Advanced Cohort Explorer' database was used to identify patients with a history of both malignancies. Clinical features and long-term outcome were abstracted. Prevalence of myelodysplastic syndromes (MDSs) in patients ≥ 65 years with a personal history of nephrectomy for RCC was then compared with the prevalence of MDSs in the Dusseldorf MDS registry and the general patient population at Mayo Clinic, using 1-sample test of proportions.

A total of 59 patients with a diagnosis of both RCC and myeloid malignancy were identified. The myeloid malignancies included 38 MDSs, 12 acute myelogenous leukemia, and 9 myeloproliferative neoplasms. The cohort was characterized by marked male predominance (4.4:1). The median age at RCC diagnosis was 64 years (range, 37-87 years), and for myeloid malignancy was 75 years (range, 44-90 years). Prevalence of MDS in patients > 65 years with a personal history of nephrectomy for RCC was ≈ 8.4 times that of the age-concordant general population based on the Dusseldorf registry (28/6490 or 395/100,000 vs. ≈ 47/100,000; P < .001), and 3.07 times that of the age-concordant patient population at Mayo Clinic (28/6490 or 395/100,000 vs. 128.4/100,000; P < .001).

We observed a strong association between RCC and MDS. Patients with a history of RCC appear to have a substantially increased risk of developing MDS compared with the general population.