To this end, we made use of the MDA231-LM2 cells expressing the IRAK1 shRNA that targets the 3′-UTR of IRAK1, which allows functional rescue by ectopic IRAK1. The results showed that the primary tumour growth was markedly reduced in mice bearing tumours expressing IRAK1 shRNA, compared with the vector control (Fig. 5a), whereby this knockdown effect was completely rescued in mice bearing tumours expressing both IRAK1 shRNA and ectopic IRAK1 (Fig. 5a). Here, IRAK1 is linked to neoplasm.