Y-box binding protein 1 (YBX1), a multifunctional protein that regulates transcription by binding to the Y-box (an inverted CCAAT box) at the promoter or enhancer of target genes, plays important pro-oncogenic roles in tumor invasion and metastasis11–13, drug resistance14, cell proliferation15 and DNA repair16,17. The gene discussed is YBX1; the disease is neoplasm.