Additionally, MELK depletion also greatly downregulated the expression of mesenchymal markers such as N-cadherin, Vimentin and Snail, but upregulated epithelial marker E-cadherin expression, suggesting targeting MELK suppressed the process of GC cell epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT), which is an important step for the initiation of tumor metastasis (17). Here, SNAI1 is linked to neoplasm.