In our current study, we observed that the down-expression of PIK3R1 promoted the colony formation, cell sphere and tumor formation of renal cancer cells and increased the expression of CTNNB1. Our data are consistent with the study by Zhou et al, who reported that the CSC viability and maintenance of breast cancer stem-like cells required the activation of the PI3K/AKT signaling axis40. This evidence concerns the gene PIK3CA and renal carcinoma.