TGFB1 and cancer: Consistent with a pro-oncogenic role for TGFβ1 in late-stage cancer, elevated levels of TGFβ1 are often observed in advanced carcinomas, and have been correlated with increased tumour invasiveness and disease progression in a variety of tumours such as malignant melanoma (Moretti et al, 1999) and colonic (Tsushima et al, 1996), ovarian (Bristow et al, 1999), and prostatic (Shariat et al, 2004) cancers.