To clarify the significance of the tension sensitivity of α-catenin in 3D epithelial morphogenesis, α-catenin mutants with artificially manipulated tension sensitivity for vinculin binding in the middle of the molecule (Hirano et al., 2018; Peng et al., 2012; Yonemura et al., 2010) were expressed in R2/7 cells, an α-catenin-deficient subclone of DLD-1 cells derived from human colorectal cancer (van Hengel et al., 1997; Watabe-Uchida et al., 1998) (Fig. 1A). The gene discussed is VCL; the disease is colorectal cancer.