A subset of sporadic papillary renal carcinomas were caused by activating mutations in the tyrosine kinase domain of the MET proto-oncogene. Several of the MET mutations (M1268T, D1246 and V11101) were located in codons homologous to codons mutated in other protein receptor tyrosine kinases (Ret M918T, Kit D816V, and c-erbB V1571)