As showed in Fig. 3b, siRNA silencing of ASPN resulted in a decrease of p-Smad2/3 and N-cadherin, and also an increase of E-cadherin (Fig. 3b, Supplementary Fig. 2C), while ASPN overexpression in CRC cells resulted in an increase of p-Smad2/3 and N-cadherin and down-regulation of E-cadherin (Fig. 3c, Supplementary Fig. 2D). This evidence concerns the gene SMAD2 and colorectal carcinoma.