Conserved elements, which in part had an RNA secondary structure under stabilizing selection, support functioning at the level of the transcript as opposed to the mere act of transcription, like Airn. STAiR1 and STAiR2 could have a role in the local repression of H3K27 methylation since there is an apparent anti-correlation of their expression in a tumorigenic pathway and an observed lack of H3K27me3 at their loci in tumor cells of lymphoid origin, whereas there is a strong H3K27me3 signal in non-tumorigenic cells. Here, AIRN is linked to neoplasm.