About 27,000 new cases of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) are diagnosed every year in the United States. 11,000 of these cases will die from the disease. More than half of patients present with advanced or metastatic disease for which chemotherapy plays a very limited role. Therefore, development of another therapeutic approach is needed. Cancers in humans are commonly associated with mutations in dominant and recessive oncogenes. These genes produce mutated proteins that are unique to cancer cells. Von Hipple-Lindau gene, which is associated with the development of the VHL disease, has been recently mapped and cloned; it is found to be mutated in 57% of sporadic renal cell carcinomas.