Genetic Analysis of Inherited Urologic Malignant Disorders: Collection of Samples

Investigation of the causes of genetic defects relating to hereditary urologic malignancies will be undertaken. These rare disorders result from inherited or newly arising mutations in genes involved in the development and function of different organ systems. As specific disease syndromes are recognized and the responsible genes identified, mutations in individual families can be identified. Correlation of mutation sites with clinical information will help determine how specific gene segments encode important functional protein domains.

Families with urologic malignant disorders of known or suspected genetic basis will be enrolled. Genetic linkage studies will include all available family members, while gene sequence analysis will be performed on affected individuals. Unaffected family members or unrelated normal individuals will serve as controls. The family members will be identified by the proband or proband's parent when the initial pedigree is taken. Subjects considered by the investigators to be appropriate for linkage studies will be invited to participate by the local genetics provider or by the investigators, who will then connect these members to their own local providers for enrollment.

In our studies of inherited urologic malignant disorders, there may be individuals from renal cancer families who do not undergo clinical evaluation for the presence of an inherited urologic malignant disorder at the National Institutes of Health because of their health problems, geographical location, or personal preference. Even though these individuals do not undergo a clinical evaluation of their suspected inherited urologic malignant disorder at the National Institutes of Health, they may have rare diseases that are extremely important to study. Therefore, we intend to collect blood samples for genetic studies from these individuals to facilitate linkage analysis and disease gene identification. Samples will be collected either by the individual's physician and sent to NIH, or will be collected by NIH physicians at either the individual's off-site location or at the NIH.