Background: Wings apart-like protein homolog (WAPL) is a cohesin binding protein that functions to destabilize cohesin-linked sister chromatids during prophase. Human WAPL has been shown to be highly expressed in cervical cancer and when over-expressed in mouse cells, induces tumorigenesis. WAPL was isolated in a screen for proteins that interact with Epstein-Barr nuclear protein 2 (EBNA2).