Given the diversity of potential cellular functions of iron, we suspect that the primary role of iron uptake in benign kidney is distinct from its role in RCC tumors; and that high baseline TfR1 levels in kidneys might simply make the renal epithelium prone to iron overload in situations of high systemic exposure, accounting for the renal specificity of rodent or human cancers in situations/conditions of chronic iron overload [31, 32, 52-54]. Here, TFRC is linked to renal cell carcinoma.