CXCR4 and cancer: For instance, it has been reported that HMGA2 counteracted the transcription repressor p120E4F to induce cyclin A expression, resulting in cell cycle progression.27 Human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) can be activated by HMGA2, holding back the telomere shortening in cancer cells.28 In addition, several studies report that HMGA2 was able to directly activate some pro‐metastatic genes, CXCR4, SNAIL or SLUG.29, 30, 31 Much attention has been focused on the regulatory cascades of HMGA2 expression during cancer progression.