A further amplification mechanism is provided by the localization of proteases operating the ectodomain shedding of EGFR ligands, increasing their availability, thus suggesting that invadopodia-related proteases may provide spatiotemporal control of growth factors promoting the invasive and metastatic potential of cancer cells, in addition to their role of proteolyzing ECM (Albrechtsen et al., 2011). The gene discussed is EGFR; the disease is cancer.