For example, USP7 is a DUB that stabilizes MDM2, the E3 ligase for the tumor suppressor TP53, and inhibiting USP7 has emerged as a strategy for indirectly increasing the levels of TP53, which is among the most highly mutated genes in cancer but has thus far eluded direct targeting by small molecules (Schauer et al., 2020). This evidence concerns the gene ZUP1 and cancer.