DIRAS1 and cancer: In the nucleus, SmgGDS can regulate the expression of more than 600 gene products, including mainly proteins controlling the cell cycle, by interacting with transcription factor complexes.16 DIRAS1 is expressed in normal cells and binds to SmgGDS, blocking the action of SmgGDS with small GTPases or transcription factor complexes.15,16 In cancer cells, deletion of DIRAS1 expression eliminates this brake and allows SmgGDS to exert oncogenic activity.17 However, other mechanisms of cancer inhibition by DIRAS1 need to be further explored.