RECQL and cancer: Dysfunctional checkpoint status, e.g., p53 in cancer cells may be linked to mitotic catastrophe following RECQ1 silencing (Futami et al., 2008a) but the ability of RECQ1 to facilitate recovery from replication stress could also be especially important for cancer cells (Popuri et al., 2012; Berti et al., 2013; Lu et al., 2013).