ORIGINAL RESEARCH

Transpl. Int.

Volume 38 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/ti.2025.14487

This article is part of the Special IssueOncology and Solid Organ Transplantation: New Biological and Clinical InsightsView all 12 articles

Renal cell carcinoma in native kidney after kidney transplantation: a multicenter case control study with a focus on screening strategy

Pierre PommerollePierre Pommerolle1,2*Maryam AssemMaryam Assem1,2,3Marine UhlMarine Uhl4Philippe De SousaPhilippe De Sousa4Dominique GuerrotDominique Guerrot5Marc HazzanMarc Hazzan6Thierry LOBBEDEZThierry LOBBEDEZ7Ophélie FourdinierOphélie Fourdinier1Gabriel ChoukrounGabriel Choukroun1,2
  • 1Department of Nephrology, Dialysis, and Transplantation, Amiens University Hospital, AMIENS, France
  • 2MP3CV Research Unit, University of Picardie Jules Verne., Amiens, France
  • 3Department of Nephrology, Tanger University Hospital., Tanger, Morocco
  • 4Department of Urology and Transplantation, Amiens University Hospital., Amiens, France
  • 5Department of Nephrology, Dialysis, and Transplantation, Rouen University Hospital, Rouen, France
  • 6Department of Nephrology, Dialysis, and Transplantation, Lille University Hospital, Lille, France
  • 7Department of Nephrology, Dialysis, and Transplantation, Caen University Hospital, Caen, France

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Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) of native kidney is more prevalent after kidney transplantation than in the general population. Risk factors and the value of screening remain unclear. We conducted a multicenter case-control study in kidney transplant recipients transplanted between 1989 and 2017. All patients with RCC were included, and two controls were matched to each case. Two centers performed annual screening (AnS group) and the other two had other strategies (OS group). A total of 125 cancers were found in 113 patients. The majority of cancers were stage T1-T2 (92.0%), 1.6% had metastasis at diagnosis and ten (9.0%) had recurrence after nephrectomy. Men (OR 2.2; IC 95% [1.2-4.4]; p=0.02) and acquired cystic kidney disease (OR 3.2; IC 95% [1.8-5.9] ; p<0.01) were associated with cancer in multivariate analysis. The 10-year survival was poorer in cases (65.6% vs. 79.1%, p<0.001). The AnS group had fewer relapses (5.0% vs. 18.2%, p=0.02) and a lower rate of cancer-related deaths (16.0% vs. 46.1%, p=0.04). Survival of patients with RCC is lower than in control patients. Annual screening could improve cancer prognosis, its benefit needs to be evaluated in larger studies.

Keywords: renal cell carcinoma, native kidney, kidney transplantation, screening, survival

Received: 12 Feb 2025; Accepted: 03 Jun 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Pommerolle, Assem, Uhl, De Sousa, Guerrot, Hazzan, LOBBEDEZ, Fourdinier and Choukroun. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Pierre Pommerolle, Department of Nephrology, Dialysis, and Transplantation, Amiens University Hospital, AMIENS, France

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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