In addition, String pathway interaction analysis identified six proteins (TGFBR2, TGFA, FGF21, SMAD4, TGFBR1, and FZD3) that were at the intersection of the cancer-associated pathways and, importantly, which were restored to their younger crosstalks by the rounds of TPE (Fig. 3D). This evidence concerns the gene SMAD4 and cancer.