VHL and chromophobe renal cell carcinoma: Thus the identification of the gene for von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) disease (a dominantly inherited familial cancer syndrome characterised by the development of retinal and central nervous system haemangioblastomas, cRCC, pancreatic lesions and phaeochromocytoma) led to the recognition that the most frequent genetic event in the evolution of sporadic cRCC is somatic inactivation of the VHL tumour suppressor gene (TSG) [1-4].