Wilms' Tumor is the most common type of kidney cancer in children.

Also called nephroblastoma, it usually appears by the age of 5, and occurs in roughly one in 10,000 children worldwide. About 90 percent of childhood kidney cancer cases are Wilms’ Tumor.

Nephroblastoma is treated with surgery and chemotherapy, with about 80 percent of patients surviving. In up to 15 percent of cases, however, current treatment protocols fail. Those with a family history of the disease have an increased risk of developing the cancer in both kidneys and require more complex approaches to treatment.

Scientists can now determine whether the WTX gene can help predict the severity of a child’s case of Wilms’ Tumor to help guide treatment. If able to determine a child had a less-threatening case, doctors might then be able to tailor less-intensive treatment.

The kidneys filter the blood and rid the body of unneeded water, salt and waste in the form of urine. Childhood kidney tumors originate in the early stem cells – those that will form the organ – of the kidney’s filtering mechanism.