Further to a role in axonal guidance, the SLIT–ROBO pathway has been implicated in cancer4, with studies showing that Slit2 and Robo1 regulate tumour cell migration and invasion through regulation of the β-catenin/Wnt pathway11,20–22 and affect neural remodelling in pancreatic cancer11,12. The gene discussed is ROBO1; the disease is neoplasm.