Two factors, PAX8 and HNF1 homeobox B (HNF1B), showed strong specificity for ccRCC cells (Fig. 1a, b), a result supported by an analysis of public genome-wide CRISPR–Cas9 and RNAi screening data12,13,17–19 (Extended Data Fig. 1a) and by validation experiments in several ccRCC cell lines in vitro and in vivo (Extended Data Fig. 1b–h). Here, PAX8 is linked to nonpapillary renal cell carcinoma.