Research Highlights from Around Weill Cornell - Week of Aug. 9 - Aug. 16

Dr. David Nanus

Mouse Model Developed at Weill Cornell Perfectly Mimics Human Kidney Cancer

Researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College have developed the first mouse model that mimics one of the most common — and severe — forms of human kidney cancer.

Clear cell renal cancer is the most commonly diagnosed form of human kidney cancer, found in approximately 70 percent of patient cases. While there are available treatments for patients who develop metastases, they only prolong life, not cure the disease, said Dr. Lorraine Gudas, chair of Weill Cornell Medical College's Pharmacology Department and the Revlon Pharmaceutical Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology.

Dr. Lorraine Gudas

With drug testing in humans a long and expensive process, researchers have turned to mouse models to assess potential new treatments and therapies more quickly, cheaply and efficiently. In order to accomplish this, however, investigators needed to develop a model that closely mimicked the human disease. Those efforts have been unsuccessful in that endeavor — until now.

Dr. Gudas and Dr. David Nanus, chief of the Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology, the Mark W. Pasmantier Professor of Hematology and Oncology in Medicine, professor of urology and professor of medicine at Weill Cornell, have successfully devised the first mouse model that has all of the molecular markers that are in human kidney cancer.

"This is the first time that a model like this has been developed," said Dr. Gudas, who is also professor of pharmacology, professor of pharmacology in medicine, professor of pharmacology in urology and professor of pharmacology in complementary and integrative medicine at Weill Cornell. "Others have tried various approaches to develop a mouse model and they have not succeeded."

They achieved this goal, they say, by taking advantage of the molecular underpinnings of clear cell kidney cancer. Many researchers have believed that the protein transcription factor HIF-2 alpha was the driving force behind clear cell kidney cancer, but Dr. Gudas, Dr. Nanus and their colleagues Dr. Leiping Fu, Dr. Maria Shevchuk and Denise Minton found that HIF-1 alpha, which is in the same family as HIF-2 alpha, was at the root of the disease.

Dr. Gudas and Dr. Nanus developed a mouse model that expressed a super-active form of HIF-1 alpha. These mice indeed developed clear cell kidney cancer like that found in humans, with the same molecular alterations.

"We're really excited about it," Dr. Gudas said. "We can now much more quickly test new drugs and we can understand more about what makes kidney cancer cells resistant to some of the drugs."

Weill Cornell Medicine
Office of External Affairs
Phone: (646) 962-9476