SMAD2 and central nervous system cancer: RelB knockdown cells displayed diminished RNA expression of the mesenchymal genes N-Cadherin/CDH2, SMAD2 and TGFβ3, as well as lower levels of YKL-40/CHI3L1 (Figure 3A), a biomarker of aggressive and recurrent gliomas [20], [21] that is very strongly associated with the mesenchymal glioma subtype [2], [3], [15].