Microsatellite instability occurs infrequently in sporadic renal cell carcinoma.

Forty-nine sporadic renal cell carcinomas were screened for instability at nine different microsatellite loci. Three tumors (6.1%) showed alterations at more than one locus. One chromophobe-cell renal carcinoma showed microsatellite instability at 3 loci and was considered to exhibit a replication error-positive phenotype. Two of the tumors with clear-cell histology showed minor alterations at one of the nine loci examined, These data indicate that microsatellite instability occurs infrequently in sporadic RCC and that the mutator phenotype may be involved in rare instances such as the chromophobe-cell carcinoma.