MYC and cancer: Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that maintenance of elevated levels of Pol-I activity in cancer cells appears critically important for the process of malignant transformation and cancer cell survival, as for example, a ∼35% reduction in Pol-I transcription in Eμ-Myc lymphoma cells resulted in induction of apoptosis as a consequence of immediate nucleolar stress, even before ribosome insufficiency takes effect on biosynthetic capacity26.