RUNX3 and cancer: Rehman et al. examined the expression of RUNX3 in 58 cases of esophageal cancer and matched adjacent normal tissues, and found that the expression level of RUNX3 mRNA was significantly increased in the tumor tissues from 31/57 esophageal cancer patients compared with its level in the corresponding normal tissues, suggesting that RUNX3 also plays a pro-cancer role [86].