VHL and renal cell adenocarcinoma: However, deletion of VHL has not consistently been associated with the loss of cilia and knockout of VHL does not cause RCC in mice; indeed, the combined deletion of three genes, namely VHL, Trp53 and Kif3a, is required to cause cystic and neoplastic lesions (Albers et al. 2013; Guinot et al. 2016).