RATIONALE: Studying samples of blood and tissue from patients with cancer in the laboratory may help doctors learn more about changes that occur in DNA and identify biomarkers related to cancer.

PURPOSE: This research study is studying biomarkers in blood and tumor tissue samples from patients with Wilms tumor.

OBJECTIVES:

• To determine whether Wilms Tumor (WT) patients without WT1-associated congenital anomalies or syndromes, but with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) unrelated to progressive bilateral tumors, carry germline WT1 mutations.
• To determine whether non-syndromic WT1 germline mutation carriers have a substantially higher incidence of ESRD than do WT patients who do not harbor WT1 mutations.

OUTLINE: Archived blood and tumor tissue specimens (or DNA isolated from these samples) are analyzed for WT1 mutations by gene sequencing and PCR.

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

• Diagnosis of Wilms Tumor (WT)

• Patients who participated in the NWTS-5 protocol

  • Non-syndromic patients who developed end-stage renal disease (ESRD) during 5-10 years for reasons other than progressive bilateral WT
  • Matched control patients who had not developed ESRD by the time (since WT onset) of ESRD diagnosis

• Blood and tumor tissue samples available

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

• Not specified

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

• Not specified

Diagnosis of Wilms Tumor