Once fully formed, theSMAD complex is translocated into the nucleus, where itassociates with other transcriptional regulators to activateor suppress the transcription of specific target genes (2, 3).Although TGFβ signaling is known to induce apoptosis andcell cycle arrest during the early stages of carcinogenesis,it has been also shown to promote cancer progression andmetastasis in the advanced stages of cancer (4, 5). The gene discussed is TGFB1; the disease is cancer.