Disclosed are methods and pharmaceutical compositions for the treatment of kidney cancer. The inventors showed that while Elabela (ELA) is mostly expressed in kidney, its expression is reduced in human kidney cancer. In a xenograft animal model (sub-cutaneous, or sub-capsular injection) Ela inhibits tumor progression. In particular, there is disclosed a method of treating kidney cancer in a subject in need thereof including administering to the subject a therapeutically effective amount of an ELA polypeptide including an amino acid sequence having at least 90% of identity with SEQ ID NO: 1 (QRPVNLTMRRKLRKHNCLQRRCMPLHSRVPFP) wherein the arginine residue (R) at position 9, 10, 20 or 21 is optionally mutated.