BackgroundHistone acetyltransferases (HATs) of the MYST family are associated with a variety of human cancers. However, the relationship between MYST HATs and their clinical significance in kidney renal clear cell carcinoma (KIRC) has not yet been evaluated.MethodsThe bioinformatics method was used to investigate the expression patterns and prognostic value of MYST HATs. Western blot was used to detect the expression of MYST HATs in KIRC.ResultsThe expression levels of MYST HATs exceptKAT8(KAT5,KAT6A,KAT6B, andKAT7) were significantly reduced in KIRC tissues compared to normal renal tissues, and the western blot results of the KIRC samples also confirmed the result. Reduced expression levels of MYST HATs exceptKAT8were significantly associated with high tumor grade and advanced TNM stage in KIRC, and showed a significant association with an unfavorable prognosis in patients with KIRC. We also found that the expression levels of MYST HATs were closely related to each other. Subsequently, gene set enrichment analysis showed that the function ofKAT5was different from that ofKAT6A,KAT6BandKAT7. The expression levels ofKAT6A,KAT6BandKAT7had significant positive correlations with cancer immune infiltrates such as B cells, CD4+T cells and CD8+T cells.ConclusionsOur results indicated that MYST HATs, except KAT8, play a beneficial role in KIRC.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12885-023-11076-x.