Objective To investigate the expression of proapoptosis protein BNIP3 in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) and its clinical significance. Methods The RCC tumor tissue samples from 30 pathologically diagnosed ccRCC and their adjacent pericarcinous tissues were adopted to detect the mRNA and protein expressions of BNIP3, von Hippel-Lindau(VHL), hypoxia inducible factor (HIF)-1α and vascular enothelial growth factor (VEGF) by real-time quantitative PCR(real-time PCR) and Western blot. The correlations of these genes' expressions with clinicopathologic features were analyzed. Results The expression levels of BNIP3 and VHL were lower in ccRCC tissues than those in pericarcinous tissues (PHIF-1α and VEGF were higher in ccRCC tissues than those in pericarcinous tissues (P