Hormones in renal cancer

Plasma renin, erythropoietin and chorionic gonadotropin levels were evaluated in 57 patients with renal adenocarcinoma. Renin elevation, found in 37 per cent, was unrelated to blood pressure levels but was associated with high grade, high stage lesions of mixed histologic cell type and predicted a poor prognosis. Erythropoietin was raised in 63 per cent of patients and was more sensitive than renin in indicating the presence of renal adenocarcinoma. However, it was less specific and did not correlate directly with tumor grade, stage, histologic type, prognosis or hematocrit and hemoglobin levels. None of the patients had elevated chorionic gonadotropin levels. Therefore, we believe that renin and erythropoietin determinations may be of value as biochemical tumor markers in renal adenocarcinoma.