Hypoxic cells can benefit from Yap activation mainly due to hypoxia-induced activation of Siah2 and subsequent degradation of Lats2 (ref. 15), whereas tumour cells within the hypoxic microenvironment may also benefit from increased secretion of TGF-β in an autocrine (Fig. 1a,b) and paracrine way51. The gene discussed is SIAH2; the disease is neoplasm.