VIP and cancer: Further focusing on lead gene functions, mapping by cancer hallmark, shows that VIP may be involved in the up- or down-regulation of genes relevant to nearly all cancer hallmarks (other than resisting cell death), with the higher number of lead gene associations seen in the hallmark pathway of “sustaining proliferative signaling” (RUVBL1, TEK, MAPK3, and PTCH1) (Figure 2B).