Fig. 1

ccRCC cultures obtained from dissociation of fresh surgery patient specimens. a Kaplan-Meier analysis reporting disease free survival (DFS) of 1286 ccRCC patients (b) Pie charts showing the 57 collected fresh renal cancer surgery specimens. ccRCC were enrolled based on grade (G1, G2, G3, G4). c Kaplan-Meier analysis reporting DFS of 57 ccRCC patients enrolled for the study. d Images showing a fresh surgery tissue enzymatically dissociated and renal cancer spheroids structures. Microscope Magnification 10×. e Immunofluorescence analysis of EpCAM and CD146 antigens on clear cell renal cancer Formalin-Fixed Paraffin-Embedded (FFPE) tissues. Hematoxilyn and Eosin (H&E) and nuclear DAPI staining were used as controls. Three patients for each grading type were used and representative images were reported (G2,G3,G4). f Colony forming assay of fresh dissociated cancer tissues performed after one week of culture in serum-free stem cell-isolating medium supplemented with Epidermal Growth Factor (EGF) and basic Fibroblast Growth Factor (b-FGF). A representative image of colonies was reported. g Colony forming assay performed on cells after one week of culture in serum-free stem cell-isolating medium and purified as EpCAM+/CD146+/CD44+ and EpCAM-/CD146-/CD44- by sorting with FACS ARIA cytometer. A representative image of colonies of both sub-populations is reported. Orange (P6) and Pink (P5) boxes mirror sorting gating/plot density areas (Additional file 7: Figure S6A)