EGF and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: With respect to the non-cellular components of the stem cell niche, Xu et al. (2017) found that epidermal growth factor (EGF) was able to promote the acquisition of stemness factors and induce EMT because the stimulation of HNSCC cell lines with EGF resulted in a decreased expression of E-cadherin and a simultaneous increase in the expression of vimentin [48].