Accordingly, CRIPTO levels at the end of the experiment were significantly higher in the former CRIPTOlow population as compared to CRIPTOhigh cells and controls (Figure 3F, middle and right panels) These observations indicate that CRIPTO is a metastable marker of NSCLC CSCs and highlight the plasticity of CSCs populations, particularly evident when CSCs homeostasis is perturbed. This evidence concerns the gene CRIPTO and non-small cell lung carcinoma.