Taken together, our data provide new knowledge in the field of cisplatin resistant NSCLC and show that targeting vitamin A/retinoic acid signalling in cisplatin resistant lung cancer depletes an ALDH1+ve CSC population, particularly in cells with increased expression of stemness markers and reduced EpCAM expression that may indeed be reflective of EMT, a key process implicated in drug resistance. The gene discussed is EPCAM; the disease is non-small cell lung carcinoma.