KRT18 and neoplasm: In line with our findings showing that LQB-223 reduced cell migration, treatment with LQB-223 reduced mRNA levels of KRT18 and increased CLDN3. Cytokeratin-18 can be regulated by TGF-β1, acting as a tumor promoter; therefore, driving migration and metastasis, triggering snail and slug activation, and inducing EMT process [32,40].