YM155 is a novel imidazolium-based inhibitor of the antiapoptotic protein survivin (low levels in normal tissue, whereas highly expressed in cancer) and has been investigated for potential treatment of various types of tumors including renal cell carcinoma, lung cancer and prostate cancer (Nakahara et al., 2007; Iwasa et al., 2008; Guo et al., 2015). The gene discussed is BIRC5; the disease is renal cell carcinoma.