The unpredictable course of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) in some patients may simply be a reflection of the inability of current parameters to identify the prognostic variables. We examined the proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) expression and mean silver-staining nucleolar organizer regions (AgNORs) in 28 RCCs (stage II, III, IV) to see if these parameters might provide prognostic information. The association of these parameters with pathologic stage and nuclear grade were also assessed in this study. PCNA expression was determined immunohistochemically using a monoclonal antibody PC 10 and the percentage of positively stained tumor cell nuclei was considered as the PCNA index. Mean AgNOR values were determined by counting all silver stained intranuclear structures in at least 200 tumor cell nuclei for every case. PCNA indices ranged from 1.2 to 51.5%. Mean AgNOR values ranged from 1.24-3.09. On reviewing our data, taking the cut-off value as 20% and 2 for PCNA index and mean AgNOR values, respectively, neither PCNA index nor mean AgNOR values showed any significant correlation with stage, grade or prognosis. The positive predictive values of PCNA index and mean AgNOR values was found to be 43 and 22%, respectively. PCNA index and mean AgNOR values had no independent prognostic value in our patients with RCC.