Image of clear cell renal cell carcinoma. (Dr. Bin Teh, Van Andel Research Institute)

New genetic mutations have been linked to kidney cancer, findings that suggest different subtypes of the disease may need tailored treatments.

Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) — the most common type of kidney cancer with 102,000 deaths worldwide each year — stood out because it was remarkably consistent, with the majority of cases driven by mutations in a single gene, called VHL, scientists reported Wednesday in the journal Nature.

Andy Futreal, co-leader of the Cancer Genome Project at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge, U.K., and his colleagues performed a large DNA sequencing study of more than 3,500 genes from 101 tumour samples.

"There are very few examples of known 'cancer genes' being mutated in ccRCC, making it a very interesting tumour to explore the contribution of novel genes in human cancer and thus provide opportunities to more fully understand the processes that can be subverted to drive cancer," Futreal said in a statement.

Three of the genes were involved in modifying proteins called histones, which help package DNA into chromosomes and are important for cell function, the researchers found.

Such systematic genetic analysis have the power to uncover previously unknown drivers of cancer — information that is critical to improving diagnosis and treatment of the disease, said study co-author Dr. Bin Teh, head of the Laboratory of Cancer Genetics at the Van Andel Research Institute in Grand Rapids, Mich.

None of the newly identified mutations accounted for more than five per cent of cancer cases, and could have been easily missed without such a systematic search, the researchers said.

Map mutations

Last month, scientists at the Sanger Institute mapped thousands of genetic mutations behind lung cancer and melanoma.

Some tailored medicines have already been developed, such as Herceptin for breast cancer and Iressa for lung cancer.

In Canada, incidence rates for kidney cancer increased by 0.7 per cent and 1.2 per cent year in male and females, respectively, between 1995 and 2004, although mortality rates remained stable, according to the Canadian Cancer Society.

The study was supported by the Wellcome Trust and the Hauenstein and Gerber foundations.