Ndrg1, another interesting MTF-1 target gene was named N-myc downstream regulated gene 1 following the discovery that the transcription factor N-myc represses the expression of mouse Ndrg1 (51). Transcription of Ndrg1 and/or its human ortholog is induced by different physiological and cell stress conditions, such as androgens, nickel compounds, DNA damage and hypoxia (37–40,52,53). In addition, the protein is overexpressed in human cancers of many tissues, such as lung, liver, brain, breast, kidney and skin (40). Although Ndrg1 and especially its human ortholog have been quite intensely studied, its function remains unclear; however, the induction by stimuli like nickel and hypoxia suggests an involvement in the cell stress response. Such a role is strongly endorsed by our finding that Ndrg1 gene expression is also induced by cadmium, and that MTF-1 plays a crucial role in this induction.