In turn, overexpression of miR-449a as well as miR-34a, which shares similar seed sequence with miR-449a, may induce TEC differentiation in vitro by targeting SATB2 (an epigenetic regulator identified as an miRN-449a target in colorectal tumor cells (96), as SATB2 was significantly decreased in a thymic epithelial progenitor cell line following miR-449a overexpression (91). The gene discussed is SATB2; the disease is colorectal neoplasm.