ASCL2 and malignant colon neoplasm: In addition, in another public transcript data set (GSE76342) for the colon cancer cell line LoVo with or without metformin treatment, we found that metformin inhibited expression of the CSC markers Lgr5, ASCL2, EPHB3, OLFM4, BMI1, Lrig1, TERT, CD44, and CD133 (Figure 1B).