Ran et al. reported that in gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST), the forkhead family member FOXF1 directly controls the transcription of two master regulators, KIT and ETV1, and these TFs are required for precursor-interstitial cell lineage specification and the tumorigenesis of GIST (8). This evidence concerns the gene FOXF1 and gastrointestinal stromal tumor.