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©2014 Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Urol. Nov 24, 2014; 3(3): 201-208
Published online Nov 24, 2014. doi: 10.5410/wjcu.v3.i3.201
Published online Nov 24, 2014. doi: 10.5410/wjcu.v3.i3.201
Spontaneous regression of renal cell carcinoma: Reality or myth?
Matthias Maruschke, Aristotelis G Anastasiadis, Oliver W Hakenberg, Department of Urology, University of Rostock, 18055 Rostock, Germany
Author contributions: Maruschke M performed the literature search in the PubMed Database and wrote the manuscript; Anastasiadis AG was actively involved in editing the manuscript; Hakenberg OW was also involved in editing and supervising the manuscript.
Correspondence to: Matthias Maruschke, MD, Department of Urology, University of Rostock, Ernst-Heydemann-Strasse 6, 18055 Rostock, Germany. matthias.maruschke@med.uni-rostock.de
Telephone: +49-381-4947834 Fax: +49-381-4947802
Received: April 24, 2014
Revised: June 29, 2014
Accepted: August 27, 2014
Published online: November 24, 2014
Processing time: 208 Days and 18.8 Hours
Revised: June 29, 2014
Accepted: August 27, 2014
Published online: November 24, 2014
Processing time: 208 Days and 18.8 Hours
Core Tip
Core tip: Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is an aggressive malignancy, which, from an immunological point of view, is highly variable. In the era of immunotherapy for metastatic RCC with interferon or interleukin it was always emphasized that spontaneous remissions of RCC, although comparatively rare, do occur and support the use of immunological therapies in metastatic disease. However, we suspected that this frequently cited occurrence of spontaneous remissions is more legend than reality. We therefore undertook an extensive literature search and included reports from the last 100 years in order to evaluate the scientific evidence describing spontaneous regressions of primary or metastatic RCC.