Given the emerging links between cGAS–STING and CIN in tumours [21, 114], it is tempting to speculate that by emphasising the CIN- and CIN-associated stress-limiting properties of cGAS–STING activation, chromosomally unstable cancers help maintain a window of CIN that is optimal to their survival. This evidence concerns the gene STING1 and cervical squamous intraepithelial neoplasia.