POU5F1B and cancer: Furthermore, Michailidou et al., (2013)15 reported that multiple genomic regions flanking common target genes, such as telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) and the POU domain class 5 transcription factor 1B (POU5F1B), included susceptibility loci that were common to breast, prostate and ovarian cancers, supporting the hypothesis of a common genetic aetiology among these cancer types16–18.