Taken together, these data suggest that emodin 1) suppresses cancer cell-induced macrophage M2-like polarization and thus TGF-β1 production, 2) inhibits polarized macrophage-induced TGF-β1 production in breast cancer cells, and 3) blocks EMT of breast cancer cells induced by TGF-β1 from both macrophages and cancer cells. The gene discussed is TGFB1; the disease is cancer.