A number of very interesting studies presented this year at the ASCO (American Society of Clinical Oncology) Annual Meeting, the ASCO-GU (ASCO Genitourinary Cancers) Spring Meeting, and the ESMO (European Society for Medical Oncology) Annual Congress could strongly influence or even revolutionize the systemic treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC). The aim of this article is to identify, summarize and discuss some outstanding studies of direct or indirect clinical relevance for systemic therapy.