Similarly, periostin (POSTN), a secreted extracellular matrix protein that plays a role in metastasis and is associated with a worse prognosis in a variety of cancers25, had significantly higher gene expression when tumor stromal cells were grown in 3DH (P < 0.0164) but was slightly decreased when hMSC were transferred to 3DH. Here, POSTN is linked to neoplasm.