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Though small, the ORF’s product is essential for the survival of medulloblastoma tumors, a brain cancer that affects children, they reported on 18 January in Molecular Cell.

This miniprotein was not in the original analysis of the human genome, yet “it has a critical role in medulloblastoma,” Saghatelian agrees.

In addition to diseases characterized by bone loss, Ctdnep1 has also been reported as a causative factor in medulloblastoma -- a childhood brain tumor.

Medulloblastoma are the most common type of malignant brain cancer in children.

The most aggressive and difficult-to-treat form of the disease is group 3 medulloblastoma, which is often fatal.