REC8 and neoplasm: The novel role of REC8 as a tumor suppressor gene identified in the present study is consistent with previous findings that sister chromatid cohesion has a crucial role in double-strand break repair of DNA [24] and genotoxic insult could induce the expression of REC8 [26, 27], suggesting that REC8 might play an important role in DNA damage repair and maintenance of chromosome stability.