Together with the facts that HEATR1 is overexpressed in brat brain TICs and that HEATR1 depletion has significantly more pronounced effect in TICs’ nucleoli even prior to tumour growth onset, our data indicate that brat-deficient TICs may have a higher dependence on HEATR1’s function in ribogenesis than their normal non-tumour cell counterparts. This evidence concerns the gene HEATR1 and neoplasm.