ASCL1 and other developmental regulators of neurogenesis form an aberrant ‘core regulatory circuit’ (CRC), that promotes oncogenicity of neuroblastoma cells (Boeva et al., 2017; van Groningen et al., 2017; Wang et al., 2019), where mutually regulated high levels of expression of the circuit genes is usually reinforced by elevated MYCN (Wang et al., 2019). This evidence concerns the gene ASCL1 and colorectal carcinoma.