Mechanistically, ChiP and luciferase reporter analysis revealed that GLI1 transcriptionally regulates the expression of the EMT-inducing transcription factors, TWIST1 and SNAI1, by binding to the putative GLI1 binding sequence CATCACCCA within their promoter regions to promote tumor-initiating-like properties and consequently chemoresistance. Here, SNAI1 is linked to neoplasm.