CD44 and neoplasm: By exposing cells to exogenous TGF-β, we confirmed that the TGF-β axis was sufficient not only to induce the acquisition of mesenchymal-like features (Figure 3—figure supplement 2A) and the transition into the CD44+/CD24− state (Figure 3C) but also to decrease the expression of BLM, BRCA2, FANCF, NBN, PMS1, RAD50, RDM1, WRN, ATM and ATR in multiple tumor-derived cell lines (Figure 3D and Figure 3—figure supplement 2B).