Previous studies have shown that the serum levels of total CK18 (evaluated by a M3-based ELISA, the M3 antibody recognises soluble fragments of CK18) in heavy drinkers (n = 15) were higher than those of healthy controls (n = 10), and even tended to be higher than those of patients with biopsy-proven malignancy of epithelial origin (n = 22) including adenocarcinoma of a variety of origins, small lung carcinoma, hypernephroma and epidermoid easophageal carcinoma [22]. Here, KRT18 is linked to renal cell carcinoma.