SLC7A11 and cancer: Interestingly, we and others recently reported the functional contributions of xCT to the pathogenesis of Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV; Kaleeba and Berger, 2006a,b; Qin et al., 2010b, 2013; Dai et al., 2014a), a principal causative agent of several cancers arising in patients with compromised immune systems (Chang et al., 1994).