Previous studies demonstrate that Axl, another member of TAM RTK, is a transcriptional target of both wild-type and mutant p53 [29], suggesting that Axl can be induced by a driver of tumorigenesis; thus it is attempting to speculate that mutant drivers of p53 etc. might likewise upregulate the expression of Mer in the mutant p53-carried NSCLC, which is initially supported by the online Whole Genome RVista analysis showing the presence of 12 p53 binding sites in the promoter region of Mer gene (Supplementary Fig. 5). Here, TP53 is linked to non-small cell lung carcinoma.