SDF-1 further induced the occurrence of EMT in CD133+CXCR4+ cells, with a previous report demonstrating that inhibition of the SDF-1/CXCR4 axis could impede the invasive behavior of CXCR4-expressing cells in vitro and metastatic cancer formation in vivo [21]. The gene discussed is CXCL12; the disease is metastatic malignant neoplasm.