CCN2 and central nervous system cancer: U87 glioma cells treated with IC50 concentrations of 5a exhibited downregulation of positive regulators of MAPK pathway such as GADDs, RIPK, CTNNB1 and PSAP, whereas, it enhanced the expression of inhibitors of MAPK signaling such as MYC, SPRY1, EZR, RASA3 and CAV1. Additionally, 5a reduced the expression of activators of ERK cascade (TNF, CTGF, FGF, JUN) and enhanced its negative modulators such as C1QL4 and TNIP1 (Figure 5b, Table 1 and Supplementary file 2).