As a result, the miR-5088-5p inhibitor effectively reduced Slug-induced mesenchymal trait (Fig. 6A), migration capacity (Fig. 6B), invasiveness (Fig. 6C), the expression of angiogenesis-related factors, VEGF and Ang2 (Fig. 6D), sphere formation ability (Fig. 6E), and mRNA levels of the cancer stem-like cell markers Oct4, Nanog, Sox2, CD133, and CD44 (Fig. 6F). Here, SOX2 is linked to cancer.