Altogether, the effect of ligand-driven up-regulation, vismodegib-driven down regulation of GLI1 mRNA expression levels (Fig. 3) and also induction of apoptosis/cell cycle arrest in the GBM patient-derived neurospheres (Fig. 4A and B) were observed irrespective of their relative endogenous levels of GLI1 mRNA expression. The gene discussed is GLI1; the disease is glioblastoma.