Understanding non-canonical roles of Mcl-1 is an important step toward identifying novel therapeutic targets, particularly in cancers where it is highly expressed, such as in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).26,27 Therefore, we hypothesized that Mcl-1 binding to VDAC promotes mitochondrial Ca2+ uptake and ROS production in NSCLC cells and that this is essential in maintaining the cancer cell phenotype. The gene discussed is MCL1; the disease is cancer.