Over the years cancer research has focused on the perceived 'goal scorers' in this disease: the oncogenes and tumour suppressor genes. However, as the complexity of cancer has become clear, our game plan has widened considerably. Three Reviews in this month's issue focus on what one could potentially call 'the mid-field'.

On page 825, René H. Medema and colleagues discuss the aurora kinases and polo-like kinases and the crucial functions that they have in regulating mitosis. The crosstalk between these kinases is more extensive than previously thought, and this has substantial implications for the development and use in the clinic of drugs that target these kinases. This Review also forms the first in our new series of articles on 'Genomic instability in cancer'.

Mitotic signals are regulated by signals from the external environment, delivered in part by growth factor receptors and receptors that are bound to the extracellular matrix. Paola Defilippi and co-workers (page 858) discuss the role of adaptor or scaffold proteins in relaying signals downstream of these receptors in cancer cells. In addition, Channing J. Der and colleagues, on page 842, discuss mutations in guanine nucleotide exchange factors (GEFs) and GTPase-activating proteins (GAPs) that occur in several different cancers and which represent druggable targets.

Finally, on page 878, Patrick S. Moore and Yuan Chang discuss the history of cancer-inducing viruses. It was the discovery of these viruses that enabled the detection of cellular oncogenes and tumour suppressor genes and that, ironically, resulted in the viruses themselves being overlooked for many years.

So, as 2010 draws to a close we end in the middle, ready to start afresh in 2011. We would sincerely like to thank all of our referees and Research Highlight advisors for their hard work this year.