Several studies, including our own, have shown that CENP-C localizes to ectopic sites along with CENP-A in cancer cells (Fig. 1E) (29, 31, 55) and also that ectopic CENP-A partners with histone H3.3 to form hybrid nucleosomes, which have unusual properties (3, 27, 56, 57). The gene discussed is CENPC; the disease is cancer.