In surgical specimens, we also demonstrated that ELK1 or phospho-ELK1 (p-ELK1) expression was up-regulated in bladder cancer, compared with non-neoplastic urothelium, and that positivity of p-ELK1, but not ELK1, was associated with the risk of recurrence of non-muscle-invasive tumors (hazard ratio (HR) = 2.829; P = 0.056) or cancer-specific mortality in patients with muscle-invasive tumor (HR = 2.693; P = 0.021) in a multivariate setting [11]. The gene discussed is ELK1; the disease is cancer.