Eomesodermin in renal cell carcinoma: Epigenetic and immune crosstalk driving tumor progression (Review)

T cells and Eomes‑positive type 1 regulatory T‑like immunosuppressive cells. In both intrinsic RCC tumor cells and stromal/endothelial compartments, current knowledge remains relatively limited, and what evidence there is has often been derived from indirect RCC pathway research, other tumor types or developmental models. The present review summarizes Eomes‑associated mechanisms in RCC through distinguishing among infiltrating leukocytes, tumor cells and stromal/endothelial compartments, and also through separating direct RCC evidence from indirectly derived mechanistic inferences. Epigenetic regulation, PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling, Wnt/β‑catenin signaling, angiogenesis and therapeutic resistance are also discussed according to the strength of the available evidence. Current data support that Eomes stands as an exploratory biomarker and hypothesis‑generating therapeutic node, rather than as an established clinical target. Further research should be performed, however, to validate the cell‑type‑specific functions of Eomes in RCC tissues, single‑cell and spatial datasets, in addition to experimental RCC models.