Sean V. Tavtigian suspects the two publications gave the findings both credibility and visibility. Knockout experiments following the gene's discovery have since demonstrated that the gene is developmentally important and confirmed that it affects a variety of cancers. However, its role varies from cancer to cancer. In inherited diseases, such as Cowden's, the mutation tends to be early. In those cancers, the gene's mutation means a poorer prognosis.
Endometrial cancer is an exception.
In hindsight, mutations affecting the chromosome 10 gene's phosphatase activity seem an ideal way to drive tumor progression, Parsons reflects. Of course, it had to send us a curveball by being a lipid phosphatase. That curveball has made characterizing the pathway more difficult than discovering it, the three scientists agree. But subsequent experiments have shown that that was too tight of an inference. However, those downstream events remain complex.