Consistent with the direct measurements of stemness-related proteins (Fig. S71), no differences in expression were observed across a wide spectrum of mRNAs encoding known melanoma stem cell genes (e.g. CD34, CD44, ALDH1, JARID1, NANOG, SOX2, SOX10, OCT4, KLF4, CCNB1 et al.)(Table S3). The gene discussed is CD44; the disease is melanoma.