The possibility that PDCD4 functions as a translation regulator factor in both cancer and neuronal cells agrees with the observation that many of the key cellular hallmarks of cancer encompass molecular processes that are crucial in nervous system development, such as invasive cell growth, cytoskeleton rearrangements, ECM dynamic interactions and survival (Duman-Scheel 2009; Heine et al. 2015). This evidence concerns the gene PDCD4 and cancer.