Indeed, in our experimental system, Trf1 abrogation results in a dramatic reduction in the number and the size of malignant lung carcinoma lesions, even in the absence of p53, already in the first mouse generation and in the absence of telomere shortening, indicating that Trf1 deficiency severely impairs cancer progression in the context of oncogenic K-Ras. Here, TERF1 is linked to lung carcinoma.