RCC is a cancer that is poorly understood. The increase in both incidence and mortality rates for RCC, coupled with the lack of effective therapies for RCC beyond surgical excision, underscore the need for a better understanding of RCC tumor biology, immunology, and epidemiology. Such improved understanding could then be directly translated into new prevention strategies as well as improved patient care. Recently, the National Cancer Institute's Kidney Cancer Progress Review Group identified as top priorities for future research the need to better understand the mechanisms underlying known risk factors for kidney cancer; and examine tumor tissue to identify predictors of patient outcome and targets for therapy. In addition, the review group stressed that the leaders in renal cancer research over the next decade would be those institutions that could enroll large numbers of patients, collect valuable risk factor and quality of life data from these patients and harness the latest technology to organize and analyze data.