Studying Biomarkers in Samples From Younger Patients With Wilms Tumor

Biological Analysis of Ethnic Variations in Wilms Tumor

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

PURPOSE: This research trial studies biomarkers in samples from younger patients with Wilms tumor.

OBJECTIVES:

• To determine a unique molecular "finger print" of primary Wilms tumor arising in ethnically diverse children who are at increased risk to develop this lethal malignancy and subsequently relapse.
• To determine a unique protein "finger print" from the urine of ethnically diverse children who develop Wilms tumor and subsequent relapse.

OUTLINE: Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded and snap-frozen primary tissue samples, and urine samples collected at the time of diagnosis and before treatment, are analyzed for molecular and protein profile by MALDI-TOF mass spectroscopy, western blotting, immunohistochemistry, and reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assays.

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

• Diagnosed with Wilms tumor
• Specimens from African-American and from Caucasian children
• Specimens from each ethnicity who relapsed
• Specimens from each ethnicity who did NOT relapse

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

• Not specified

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

• Not specified