Carcinoma, Renal Cell

Inclusion Criteria

- Life expectancy of at least 12 weeks
 - Clinical, radiographic, or pathologic diagnosis of metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC). All renal cell histologies are allowed- Acceptable surgical risk in the judgment of the study investigator and consulting urological surgeon
 - At least one uni-dimensional measurable lesion outside the planned nephrectomy specimen
 - Patients who have an ECOG performance status of 0 or 1

Exclusion Criteria

- History of bleeding diathesis or unexpected surgical bleeding- Patients currently receiving treatment with or having a requirement for therapeutic anticoagulation
 - Prior therapy for RCC. Palliative radiation therapy for painful or unstable bone metastases is permitted provided that there is measurable metastatic disease outside the radiation field
 - Known history of HIV infection- Symptomatic metastatic brain or meningeal tumors, unless the patient is > 6 months from definitive therapy, has a CT or MRI scan within 6 weeks of study entry negative for brain metastases and is clinically stable with respect to the tumor at the time of study entry