Three universal types of cancer are identified, based on the malfunction of a certain set of proteins and regulatory RNAs, irrespective of the organ in which they are located: Cancer Type 1, where cancer cells lack either a functional (a) P14ARF gene, or (b) a P53 gene; Cancer Type 2, where cancer cells lack a functional DINO lncRNA; and Cancer Type 3, where cancer cells have abnormally high MDM2 protein activity. Here, MDM2 is linked to cancer.