Certain ARSs, such as isoleucyl-tRNA synthetase 2 (IARS2), lysyl-tRNA synthetase (KRS) and asparaginyl-tRNA synthetase (NRS), have been shown to promote cancer development (Kim et al., 2012; Fang et al., 2018; Yeom et al., 2020), while AIMPs and seryl-tRNA synthetase (SerRS) usually exert anti-tumor effects (Li Y. et al., 2019; Zhou Z. et al., 2020). The gene discussed is NARS1; the disease is cancer.