These results indicate that Gas6 may be the molecular basis of bone marrow dormancy.94 In addition, the binding of prostate cancer to annexin II induces the expression of the Gas6 receptors Axl and Mer, which induce dormancy in the haematopoietic system.90 How disseminated tumour cells (DTCs) become dormant in the marrow and how dormant DTCs escape dormancy remain unclear. This evidence concerns the gene MERTK and prostate carcinoma.