Survival plots were performed based on 12 hub genes, including VEGFA, COL1A1, COL3A1, EGF, HK2, SHMT2, PLA2G4F, ADH1A, ADH1C, CAV1, TIMP1 and PIPOX. The results suggested that COL1A1, PIPOX, TIMP1, CAV1 and PLA2G4F were significantly associated with the prognosis of 530 ccRCC patients from the TCGA database (P<0.05, Figure 7A–L). Here, PIPOX is linked to nonpapillary renal cell carcinoma.