In summary, while more work is still needed to confirm if emodin indeed directly blocks the interaction between TGF-β1 and TGFβR1, this study provides convincing pre-clinical evidence suggesting that emodin harbors the potential for clinical development as a new effective and safe agent to halt metastatic recurrence of breast cancer, either as a monotherapy, or in combination with other neoadjuvant or adjuvant therapies. The gene discussed is TGFB1; the disease is breast cancer.