Abstract: Genes that are differentially expressed in subtypes of renal cell carcinomas are disclosed as are their polypeptide products. This information is utilized to produce nucleic acid and antibody probes and sets of such probes that are specific for these genes and their products. Methods employing these probes, including hybridization and immunological methods, are used to determine the subtype of a renal cell tumor sample from a subject based on the differential expression of such genes that is characteristic of the cancer subtype.

Abstract: A nucleic acid probe or a novel set of such probes in a microarray is provided. The probe or probe set is useful in the prognosis of patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma (CC-RCC), wherein aggressive and non-agressive CC-RCC tumor types are characterized by differential expression profiles of genes that hybridize with one or more of these probes.