TGFB1 and cancer: This parallel between G2/M phase enrichment and up-regulated levels of cancer stemness echoes a recent report that the G2/M phase favors developmental pluripotency; in this report, by gene silencing or chemical treatment, prolonged S and G2 phases can prevent pluripotency state dissolution in human embryonic stem cells, whereas an extended G1 phase may lead to differentiation but does not inhibit pluripotency markers when bFGF or TGF-β is removed27.