We treated p18−/−;Brca1MGKO tumor cells with E2 in multiple time periods and observed by western blot that E2 stimulated expression of Vim and EMT-TFs including p-Fra1 and/or Snail/Slug in both type of cells (Fig. 3d-h, Additional file 6: Figure S6), indicating E2 promotes EMT in Brca1-deficient tumor cells in vitro. Here, VIM is linked to neoplasm.