ASCL1 is a pioneer factor, able to open more inaccessible chromatin associated with differentiation genes, yet it may be less important for maintaining high level expression of genes controlled by super-enhancers that are already readily accessible and bound by multiple transcription factors (Boeva et al., 2017; van Groningen et al., 2017; Ponzoni et al., 2022), a super-enhancer network that is a hallmark of this trapped developmental intermediate stage seen in neuroblastoma tumours. This evidence concerns the gene ASCL1 and neuroblastoma.