Consistent with findings on other tumour entities, our results indicate that Hiwi might not only be relevant in germ cell malignancies but also in solid tumours of epithelial or mesenchymal origin (Qiao et al, 2002; Liu et al, 2006; Taubert et al, 2007a, 2007b). The gene discussed is PIWIL1; the disease is neoplasm.