Objective: To study the characteristic of primary cells of human renal cell carcinoma(RCC) and expression of the oncogenes. Methods: An improved isolation method was employed to isolate primary RCC cells from 7 fresh human RCC specimens. The expression of some oncogenes in the cells was examined by means of chromosomal pattern analysis and immunohistochemistry. Results:It was found that the primary cells obtained by using this met hod was more and purer than that of the routine methods and bcl-2, c-erbB-2 , c-met, EGFR had low to medium level expression, but p53 had no expression. Conclusion: The study provides a basis for the ex vivo gene th erapy for RCC.