Renal cell carcinoma risk factors

Risk factors
A history of smoking greatly increases the risk for developing renal cell carcinoma.

Genetic risk factors
Some people may also have inherited an increased risk to develop renal cell carcinoma, and a family history of kidney cancer increases the risk. People with von Hippel-Lindau disease, a hereditary disease that also affects the capillaries of the brain, commonly also develop renal cell carcinoma.

Autosomal dominant conditions

 * Birt-Hogg-Dube syndrome
 * Hereditary leiomyomatosis and renal cell cancer
 * Hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer
 * von Hippel-Lindau syndrome

Autosomal recessive conditions

 * Fumarase deficiency