ZFP36 and cancer: ZFP36 has previously been described as a tumor suppressor whose expression was downregulated or lost in human cancer cell lines [25] and various types of cancer such as prostate cancer [26, 27], colorectal cancer [28], breast cancer, pancreatic cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), malignant melanoma, and malignant glioma [22, 23].