In this study, we have undertaken a retrospective review of 100 patient charts to investigate whether neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is associated with progression-free survival (PFS) in metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) patients treated with second-line vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) after failure of interferon-alpha. We have shown that NLR at diagnosis is an independent predictor of survival in mRCC patients. Investigation of therapies which harness the immune response are warranted in this disease.