EGFR and cancer: We also found that, in DepMap data, USP8 knockout exhibited a higher codependency score (i.e., correlated more strongly) with knockout of ESCRT machinery proteins than with individual growth factor or cytokine receptors, independent of cancer lineage, suggesting that the essential function of USP8 in cancer cells is not mediated by one specific receptor alone – e.g. EGFR – but rather by multiple growth factor and cytokine receptors that undergo similar ESCRT-dependent endosomal sorting.