KITLG and cancer: Univariate modeling of randomly selected sets of the genes showed consistent association of five genes with case status, and of these five genes, two are therapeutically targetable cell surface receptors that have been implicated previously in cancer development or progression: DLK2, an effector of the NOTCH signaling pathway [8, 9], and KIT, a receptor for stem cell factor and other signaling molecules that is inhibited by imatinib [10, 11].