Accumulating evidence indicates that ETS1, acting as a transcriptional factor, positively or negatively regulates numerous miRNAs and takes part in tumour progression in various human cancers.14,36,37 To explore the functional role of ETS1 in RCC, we analysed the RCC dataset from the TCGA database and found that the expression of ETS1 was saliently increased in RCC tissues compared with normal renal tissues (Fig. 5a, Table S11). This evidence concerns the gene ETS1 and neoplasm.