Researchers have found that the KLF4 gene is reprogrammed at the onset of acute promyelocytic leukaemia (APL), an aggressive type of blood cancer that is responsible for 5-15% of all types of leukemia. Overexpressing KLF4 suppressed the self-renewal traits of cancerous cells and reversed the effects caused by the actions of oncofusion events that cause the disease. The findings pave the way for the development of drugs that boost the expression of the gene at the earliest stages of cancer formation, intercepting the disease before it becomes uncontrollable.