The significance of cancer after renal transplantation.

Cancer developing after renal transplantation is a well documented event that has clinical importance and immunologic implications. The incidence and severity of these malignancies are not of the magnitude to discourage the use of transplantation as major treatment for chronic renal failure. Suppression of the immune surveillance system has been believed to be the cause of cancer after transplantation but recent data suggest that cancer after transplantation does not constitute acceptable evidence for the immune surveillance theory.