Further functional experiments showed that FENDRR overexpression attenuated the CSC-like traits of colorectal cancer spheres, while FENDRR knockdown conferred the CSC-like traits for colorectal cancer cells, as characterized by the alteration of ALDH activity, sphere-formation ability, and expression of stemness markers (Oct4, Sox2, and KLF4). The gene discussed is POU5F1; the disease is colorectal cancer.