Results revealed that ZFX over-expression partially but significantly dampens mir-144 action as demonstrated by decreased cell apoptosis (Figure 6A,6C-6F) and increased tumor cell growth (Figure 6B) compared to the tumor cells with only mir-144 hyper-expression, which clearly suggests that ZFX-depression is required for mir-144 mediated A549 NSCLC cell apoptosis and growth inhibition. Here, ZFX is linked to non-small cell lung carcinoma.