The relatively high levels of p-ATM that we observed in our therapy-naive cervical tumour specimens could represent continuous activation of the ATM-regulated DDR as a result of deregulated proliferation, as also reported for other tumour types.39, 40 Alternatively, elevated levels of p-ATM prior to (chemo)radiation may point at DNA damage-independent functions of ATM, such as the recently reported role for ATM in sensing oxidative stress levels.41 Here, ATM is linked to neoplasm.