Interestingly, caspase 8, which is known to be essential for extrinsic apoptosis triggered by Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) superfamily ligands expressed by immune effector cells12, has been shown to be epigenetically silenced in SCLC cell lines13–16 suggesting this to be a strategy of immune escape. The gene discussed is CASP8; the disease is small cell lung carcinoma.