In local or metastatic cancer, a prognostic tumour marker could be a valuable tool in the selection of different treatments. In renal cell cancer (RCC) no such markers have been available. We therefore evaluated the association between several pretreatment serum markers, tumour classification and short term survival in RCC patients. Serum samples were collected before surgery and three months thereafter from 24 RCC patients. Interleukin-6 (IL-6), IL- 12, soluble IL-2 receptor (sIL-2R) and intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (sICAM-1) were measured in serum samples using specific commercial enzyme immunoassay kits. Serum IL-6, sIL-2R and sICAM-1 levels before nephrectomy were significantly higher in non-local tumours than in local ones (mean IL-6 53 pg/ml versus 6.3 pg/ml, and sICAM-1 443 ng/ml versus 290 ng/ml, sIL-2R 3779 pg/ml versus 1796 pg/ml). In contrast, IL-12 levels were higher in local tumours (148 versus 102 pg/ml) and the levels increased significantly (P < 0.005) after removal of the primary tumour in patients with local disease. All patients with local tumours had normal IL-6 values, while only one with a non-local tumour had IL-6 levels below 10 pg/ml. In addition, IL-6 and sICAM-1 levels before operation were significantly higher in patients with short (less than one year) survival (p=0.007 to IL-6 and p=0.006 to sICAM-1). In contrast, patients with shorter survival had significantly lower IL-12 (p=0.03) levels. Our findings suggest that RCC induces changes in several immunological parameters. These soluble immunological factors, IL-6, IL-12, sIL-2R and sICAM-1, might have a role as prognostic factors in RCC.