The human aconitase is an oft-cited example: an enzyme of the tricarboxylic acid cycle that turns into a translational regulator when the iron concentration changes7; as is hyaluronan-mediated motility receptor (HMMR), a nuclear microtubule-associated protein that, in certain cancers, is exported to the extracellular matrix where it binds CD44, ultimately promoting metastasis (reviewed in refs 8, 9). Here, HMMR is linked to cancer.