This study also revealed that ERRα knockdown–mediated dysfunction of autophagy flux caused growth repression of RCC, and impairment of the protective autophagy restored the sensitivity of RCC cells to sunitinib, a first-line drug used for treating high-grade RCC, these findings indicated that ERRα might contribute to the survival and drug resistance of cancer cells under therapeutic stress, which was consistent with the previous studies [36, 42, 43]. This evidence concerns the gene ESRRA and renal cell carcinoma.