SOCS2 and cancer: DANCR knockdown led to changes in the expression of a large number of genes (Fig. 4A and Table S3), including some genes known to be correlated with cell proliferation and apoptosis, such as MALAT1, XIAP, SOCS2, CCND1, etc. Among the altered genes, we were particularly interested in MALAT1, whose expression was significantly downregulated upon DANCR knockdown (Fig. 4A), due to its widely studied functions in cancers, including promotion of cell growth and metastasis, and suppression of apoptosis39–45.