Intriguingly, WT1 acts as a tumour suppressor in Wilms tumours—a rare form of childhood kidney cancer—through loss-of-function mutations and epigenetic silencing (Miller-Hodges and Hohenstein, 2012) while it is also suggested to act as oncogene in several tumour types in adults (Sugiyama, 2001; Yang et al, 2007). This evidence concerns the gene WT1 and childhood malignant kidney neoplasm.