Chen et al. 138 discovered that circMALAT1 functioned as a brake in ribosomes to retard Paired box 5 (PAX5) mRNA translation and promote self-renewal of hepatocellular cancer (HCC) stem cells by forming a specific ternary (ribosomecirc-MALAT1-PAX5 mRNA) complex. The gene discussed is PAX5; the disease is hepatocellular carcinoma.