VIM and neoplasm: During the EMT process, tumor cells change from an epithelioid morphology to a mesenchymal morphology, and exhibit decreases in epithelial markers, such as E-cadherin (E-cad) and claudin-1 [10], and increases in mesenchymal markers, such as vimentin (Vim) and n-cadherin (N-cad), as well as EMT- related transcription factors, such as Twist1/2, the Slug/Snail family, and ZEB1/2 [9].