Genetic inactivation of the TGFβ pathway is observed in only about half of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas (PDAC), yet preventing TGFβ-mediated apoptosis of premalignant cells is thought to be important for PDAC development Huang and colleagues found that dysregulated expression of inhibitor of differentiation 1 (ID1) may explain this phenomenon Many PDAC cells exhibited high ID1 expression despite retaining TGFβ-pathway activity, and ID1 downregulation in PDAC cells led to apoptosis The pathologically sustained expression of ID1 appears to uncouple the TGFβ-mediated epithelial–mesenchymal transition from apoptosis, enabling PDAC cells to survive without genetic inactivation of the TGFβ pathway For details, please see the article by Huang and colleagues on page 142.