Disclosed herein are methods of treating minimal residual cancer in a subject. The methods involve contacting disseminated cancer cells (DCCs) in a subject with a bone morphogenic protein 7 (BMP7) derivative protein, where the contacting induces or maintains dormancy in the contacted DCCs of the subject to treat minimal residual cancer in the subject. Also disclosed are methods that involve contacting DCCs in a subject with a protein kinase RNA-like endoplasmic reticulum kinase (PERK) inhibitor selected from LY2, LY3, and LY4, where said contacting eradicates DCCs in the subject to treat minimal residual cancer in the subject.
