Accordingly, knocking out NUAK2 with CRISPR, blocking expression with RNA interference (RNAi) or pharmacological inhibition of NUAK2 activity drives cytoplasmic localization of YAP/TAZ, inhibits YAP/TAZ transcriptional activity, attenuates the growth of diverse cancer cell lines in culture, and decreases tumor growth in an orthotopic breast cancer mouse model. The gene discussed is WWTR1; the disease is breast cancer.