BCL2L1 and cancer: Beroukhim et al. emphasize a major role of Mcl-1 and Bcl-xL in cancer survival and even demonstrate that cancer cells with focal amplifications of MCL1 and BCL2L1, the gene encoding Bcl-xL, especially depend on Mcl-1 and Bcl-xL for growth and survival, making both proteins ideal targets of molecular inhibition [26].