As is typical for many new proteins that are implicated in tumorigenesis, the role of LZAP in cancer development and progression is likely to be dependent on accompanying molecular defects in the tumor, and the complicated nature of these interactions may be beginning to emerge with contradictory reports of LZAP as both an inhibitor of cancer cell growth and invasion, and a promoter of cell proliferation and metastasis. This evidence concerns the gene CDK5RAP3 and cancer.