Y-chromosome loss is frequent in male renal tumors

Loss of the Y-chromosome is a common event in different tumor types but its prevalence and clinical relevance in renal cell tumors is still not understood.

It was the aim of this study to estimate the frequency and clinical relevance of Y-loss in kidney neoplasms. A cohort of 1,252 male renal tumors was analyzed in a tissue microarray format by fluorescence in-situ hybridization (FISH).

Y-loss was found in 47% of tumors. The frequency of this alteration varied markedly between kidney tumor subtypes. Y-loss was most prevalent in papillary renal cell carcinoma (RCC) (77%) followed by chromophobe RCC (60%), oncocytoma (51%), clear cell RCC (39%) and clear cell (tubulo)papillary RCC (19%). Y-loss was linked to higher patient age and smaller tumor size at diagnosis. Mean age (95% CI) was 65 (64-66) years in patients with Y-loss in their tumor compared to 60 (58-61) years in patients without Y-loss (P<0.0001). Significant correlations between Y-loss and tumor phenotype were found only for papillary carcinomas (P=0.002), especially for type 1 (P=0.03).

Y-loss is present in different histologic subtypes of renal neoplasm. The highest frequency is in papillary RCC, where it may represent a potentially relevant prognostic biomarker suggesting favorable disease outcome.