Common genetic variants within the WWP2 locus have been associated with plantar fascial disorders and osteoarthritis54,55, supporting the heterogeneous functions associated with WWP2. Working in cancer cell lines, Soond et al.40 implicated WWP2 in oncogenic TGFβ-induced epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT), reporting the selective and TGFβ-dependent targeting of SMADs by specific ectopic WWP2 isoforms. Here, TGFB1 is linked to cancer.