In their 2015 study using HCT116 and SW480 colon cancer cell lines, the Yang lab found that by physically interacting with the transcriptional repressor zinc finger E box-binding homeobox 1 (ZEB1), TERT downregulates the expression of E-cadherin, a tumor suppressor whose loss-of-function drives EMT [113]. Here, TERT is linked to colonic neoplasm.