Renal cell carcinoma.

Renal cell carcinoma remains a major challenge for urologic oncologists. Over the past year, progress has been made in understanding the molecular biology of this disease and in describing new prognostic factors for outcome following nephrectomy. Studies have better defined patients who might benefit from elective nephron-sparing procedures without increasing the risk of relapse. Combination immunotherapy with interleukin-2 (IL-2) and interferon-alpha appears to be more active than single agent therapy and may be most effective when combined with chemotherapy. No new active chemotherapeutic agents have been identified. Prospective randomized trials suggest that autologous tumor cell vaccines as currently used offer little therapeutic benefit.