MEIS1 and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: For example, Zargari and colleagues evaluated the expression pattern of MEIS1 in human esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, demonstrating that down-regulated expression of MEIS1 by shRNA decreased the mRNA expression of the most important stem cell markers (such as BMI1, SALL4, OCT4, and KLF4), which can preserve self-renewal and proliferative potential via inhibiting differentiation signaling pathways during cancer initiation and development [114].