LGR5 and cancer: In recent years Lgr5 has been reported to promote both growth and survival and is over expressed in several types of cancer including colorectal cancers (van de Wetering et al., 2002; Barker et al., 2007), where heightened expression was restricted to actively proliferating cells, Ovarian cancer (McClanahan et al., 2006), and Thyroid Cancer (Michelotti et al., 2015).