STARD9 and cancer: In analysis of exome chip data we found evidence of association with neutropenia for uncommon non-synonymous variants in STARD9 and UBAP2. STARD9 is a mitotic kinesin, and STARD9-depleted cancer cells have abnormal cellular morphology and undergo apoptosis.38 In addition, STARD9 depletion was found to synergise with the chemotherapeutic agent taxol, the use of which is dose-limited because of neutropenia.38 The function of UBAP2 is undetermined, although it has an ubiquitin-associated domain and is widely expressed across tissues including bone marrow.