A virtual look at kidney cancer

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the most common type of kidney cancer. Let's take a deep-dive look in the human body and this cancer.

Transcript

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Renal cell carcinoma, or RCC, is the most common type of kidney cancer. It's estimated to affect nearly 59,000 people each year.

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Several factors contribute to the risk of RCC. Smoking doubles the risk and is implicated in up to 1/3

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of all cases. Due to the fact that RCC occurs inside the kidneys, it often goes unnoticed. After all, your kidneys are completely hidden,

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and their function is silent. You have two kidneys. In addition to regulating key functions of the body, such as fluid and electrolyte levels,

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these remarkable organs filter and remove various wastes from blood so they can be excreted in urine. Deep inside each kidney are millions

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of tiny structures called nephrons, where blood filtration occurs and urine is produced. This is where most forms of renal cell carcinoma start.

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Like all cancers, it begins as a microscopic growth. Renal cell carcinoma is unusual because the original small tumor is able to grow unnoticed

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for a long period of time. Deep inside the kidney, it's not easily detected so there may be no symptoms that a person would notice.

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If there are any symptoms, they may include back pain or blood in urine. Plus, your doctor may notice a mass

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in the lower region of your back during a physical examination. Unfortunately, only around 10% of patients will experience all three of these symptoms.

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Eventually, the tumor will grow large enough to cause symptoms. But by this time, it is not uncommon for renal cell

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carcinoma to have already reached an advanced stage. Advanced renal cell carcinoma is when cancer cells have escaped from the kidney and traveled

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to other parts of the body, that is, become metastatic. These cells may travel to other organs, such as the liver, the lungs, or bone marrow,

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where they form new tumors. Advanced renal cell carcinoma requires aggressive treatment. Fortunately, many treatment options are available,

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and new ones are rapidly being developed. Current treatments for advanced renal cell carcinoma usually include multiple types of agents,

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such as targeted therapies and immunotherapy, because different strategies are required in order to improve effectiveness.

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The cancer cells in renal cell carcinoma are abnormal in several ways. For example, they develop changes

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that allow them to grow without the normal controls of other cells. Targeted therapies interfere with these abnormal signals

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and help limit cancer cells from growing. Cancer cells also survive by developing the ability to avoid being targeted by the immune system.

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Immunotherapy reveals cancer cells so the immune system can detect and destroy them. Treatments that combine immunotherapy

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with targeted therapies are proving to be more and more effective against advanced renal cell carcinoma. Everyone is different, and different circumstances

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require their own treatment strategies so talk to your doctor to learn more. [MUSIC PLAYING]