الفهرس 
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Abstract
Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the most common malignant tumor of the adult kidneys with a high mortality rate. Understanding the molecular mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of RCC has aided the development of molecular-targeted drugs for this disease. Cancer cells acquire various mechanisms by which they escape apoptosis, and provide to them at least a survival advantage compared to non-malignant cells. MicroRNAs are a new class of small RNAs that regulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional and translational levels. miRNAs have been implicated in the control of many vital biological processes including apoptosis. miRNA-21 is dramatically up-regulated in cancer cells. It suppresses the expression of a large number of genes that participate in apoptotic pathways to promote tumorigenesis. One of these apoptotic pathways is the intrinsic ER stress-induced apoptosis which is activated upon cellular stress. Cancer cells respond to these stress stimuli through inducing cellular stress responses, such as unfolded protein response (UPR). Prolonged or chronic activation of UPR can trigger one or more pro-apoptotic signaling pathways; the most important one is mediated by CHOP. The aim of this study was to elucidate the role of evasion of apoptosis in RCC that leads to survival of its cells by investigating the expression level of the prosurvival miRNA-21 and the proapoptotic CHOP mRNA in peripheral blood samples of different grades and stages of RCC patients. Also, the analysis of their expression helps to evaluate their capability to be used as non-invasive biomarkers for the detection and diagnosis of RCC.