Since evidence shows that EMT and stem cell-like traits are intertwined processes in the transition of dormant disseminated tumor cells to metastatic outgrowth19, we detected the expression of markers associated with proliferation, stemness, and EMT in six CRC cell lines and found that HT29 cell line not only lowly expressed cyclin D1, c-Myc, vimentin, but also highly expressed E-cadherin, CD133, SOX2 and Lgr5 (Supplementary Fig. S1A–I). This evidence concerns the gene SOX2 and neoplasm.