Transient transfection was performed on the cells to verify the expression of EMT-related factors (Fig. 8C), and transwelled for 6 h to exclude the effect of proliferation on metastasis (Additional file 1: Fig. S6B, C) and time-dependent Transwell experiments to mimic tumor metastasis (Fig. 8D, E). Changes in the protein levels of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) markers, including E-cadherin and Snail1, were consistent with the results of Transwell experiment. The gene discussed is SNAI1; the disease is neoplasm.