Introduction: Melanoma Antigen Family A1 (MAGE-A1) geneis a cancer-testis antigen (CTA) gene and its methylation status remains unknown in renal cell carcinoma (RCC). This study aimed to investigate the methylation status of the MAGE-A1 promoter and the effect of MAGE-A1 hypomethylation on the tumor progression and survival outcome in RCC patients. Materials and Methods: Paraffin-embedded specimens from 42 RCC patients were analyzed for MAGE-A1 methylation by methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction. The distribution of TNM/AJCC stages and survival outcome were compared among patients with unmethylated (U), partially methylated (P), and methylated (M) promoter of the MAGE-A1 gene. Results: There were 6 cases (14.3%) with methylation (M), 15 cases (35.7%) with partial methylation (P) and 21 cases (50%) with unmethylation (U) of the MAGE-A1 promoter. Significances were found in T (P=0.042) and AJCC (P=0.032) stage distributions among M, P, and U groups. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that the survival outcome was higher in M group as compared with U and P groups although the difference did not reach a statistical significance. Conclusion: Our findings suggested that hypomethylation of MAGE-A1 is not rare in RCC, and methylation status of MAGE-A1 promoter could influence the disease stage as well as the survival outcome of RCC patients.