VEGFA and renal cell carcinoma: In the early 2000s, novel therapies that focused on the downstream products of the von Hippel-Lindau/hypoxia-inducible factor (VHL/HIF) pathway, such as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), transforming growth factor α (TGFα), and platelet-derived growth factor β (PDGFβ), demonstrated benefit for RCC patients (8, 9).