Molecular biology of renal cortical tumors.

The last 10 years have witnessed a dramatic evolution in our understanding of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) biology, which has led to the development of novel medical therapies and revolutionized the approach to their clinical management. This review considers the genetic basis of RCC and the molecular mechanisms of the hypoxia-induced pathway, the mammalian target of rapamycin pathway, the extracellular signal-regulated kinase pathway, and the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway. All these molecular pathways are involved in RCC biology, tumorigenesis, and progression, and serve as the source of new rational treatment strategies based on the design of small molecule inhibitors directed against their targets.