This shift is important since EMT is an integral component of CRC progression which confers motility and migration to cancer cells toward an invasive and metastatic phenotype.38, 39 Emerging evidence has indicated that the tumor microenvironment is a potent factor that may facilitate and even initiate EMT.40 On the other hand, Ren G et al.,11 showed that when BM-MSCs were treated with various inflammatory cytokines IFNγ, TNFα, IL-1, IL-6, and GM-CSF, only TNF-α-treated BM-MSCs displayed a profile of cytokine/chemokine production resembling that of tumor-associated MSCs. The gene discussed is TNF; the disease is cancer.