Eight tumours harboured tumour-specific NUMTs inserted into genes on the COSMIC Cancer Gene Census list28 (two in FHIT, which is a fragile genomic site29, and one each in CTNNA2, DDIT3, WIF1, BCL11B, KDM5A and AKT2) (Supplementary Table 4). Here, BCL11B is linked to neoplasm.