In vitro studies show that SOD1 is essential for the growth of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and leukemia as knockdown or pharmacological inhibition of SOD1 potently inhibits the growth of NSCLC cell lines driven by oncogenic KRAS and EGFR7,10, as well as other cancer cell lines and xenograft tumors7,9,11. The gene discussed is SOD1; the disease is cancer.