Causes

It's not clear what causes Wilms' tumor, but in rare cases, heredity may play a role.

Cancer begins when cells develop errors in their DNA. The errors allow the cells to grow and divide uncontrollably and to go on living when other cells would die. The accumulating cells form a tumor. In Wilms' tumor, this process occurs in the kidney cells.

In rare cases, the errors in DNA that lead to Wilms' tumor are passed from a parent to the child. In most cases, there is no known connection between parents and children that may lead to cancer.