To begin to delineate the function of TMED3 and SOX12 in colon cancer stem cells, which may underlie metastases (e.g. Sampieri & Fodde, 2012), we first analyzed the effects of their knockdown in anchorage-independent clonogenic colonospheres, or spheroids, which report the ability and number of colon cancer stem cells to self-renew and form such clones. Here, TMED3 is linked to colonic neoplasm.