Dietary exposure to aristolochic acid is the cause of<unk>  and its attendant transitional cell cancers. Former hypotheses that included roles for ochratoxin, poisoning by organic compounds leached from lignite or by heavy metals, viruses, and trace-element deficiencies, are not supported by current evidence. Genetic factors may be involved in determining which persons exposed to aristolochic acid suffer from<unk>  and which do not. In the<unk>  region, dietary aristolochic acid exposure may come from the consumption of the seeds of Aristolochia clematitis (European birthwort), a plant native to the<unk>  region, which grows among wheat plants and whose seeds mingle with the wheat used for bread. Aristolochic-acid-containing herbal remedies used in traditional Chinese medicine are associated with a related—possibly identical—condition known as "Chinese herbs nephropathy". Exposure to aristolochic acid is associated with a high incidence of uroepithelial tumorigenesis.
Balkan endemic nephropathy
Mesoamerican nephropathy
IgA nephropathy
Malarial nephropathy
HIV-associated nephropathy
Sickle cell nephropathy
Transplant glomerulopathy
Uddanam nephropathy