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And the 2023 Best Paper Award goes to...
by Lynn McCain / Sep 3, 2024Dr. Rohit Mehra, professor and member of the Michigan Center for Translational Pathology (MCTP), and his international team of collaborators were recently recognized by the Asian Journal of Urology for the best paper published in their journal in 2023.
This award-winning study is a literature overview of chromophobe renal cell carcinoma (ChRCC), the third most common RCC subtype. ChRCC tumors are predominantly sporadic in nature and uncommonly happen in a hereditary fashion. While most ChRCC tumors are associated with favorable clinical outcomes, a subset of tumors with necrosis, sarcomatoid features, and large tumor size may be associated with clinical recurrence and metastasis. At the molecular level, multiple chromosomal losses are the defining genetic feature of ChRCC; molecular genotypes like TP53 mutation, chromosomal duplication, and DNA hypermethylation have been associated with high-stage disease and poor survival in ChRCC. In contrast to the more common RCC subtypes (clear cell RCC and papillary RCC) which originate from the proximal nephron, ChRCC tend to show a distal nephronal origin. Previous work from Mehra and U-M Pathology and MCTP colleagues have confirmed that ChRCC originate from intercalated cells of distal nephrons. Their work also led to the nomination of novel biomarkers, like the long non-coding RNA LINC01187 and FOXI1, which are now known to label ChRCC. Overall, these interrogations have helped better understand the clinicopathologic, outcome, and biomarker perspectives related to ChRCC.
"This was a very exciting enterprise to work on," said Mehra. "I am very thankful to our patients and to my collaborators and our phenomenal team at the University of Michigan Pathology and Michigan Center for Translational Pathology (MCTP)."
Citation:
Reza Alaghehbandan, Christopher G. Przybycin, Virginie Verkarre, Rohit Mehra. (2022) Chromophobe renal cell carcinoma: Novel molecular insights and clinicopathologic updates, Asian Journal of Urology 9(1):1-11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajur.2021.11.010.