MYC and cancer: This has been shown in a number of gene deserts, most notably: SNPs within a 1.2 Mb region on chromosome 8q24, a known gene desert, have been implicated in cancer-type-specific interactions with Myc, a highly potent cancer gene > 300 kb away (Amundadottir et al., 2006; Ghoussaini et al., 2008; Ahmadiyeh et al., 2010; Wasserman et al., 2010).