In ovarian cancer cells, vitamin D could suppress the epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) by reducing Slug and Snail (Two EMT related proteins) and upregulation of E-cadherin.19 In the present study, we demonstrated that VD3 (0.1 μM) or neferine (5 μM) alone could slightly decrease EMT associated protein expression, while the combination of VD3 and neferine could significantly increase E-cadherin expression, while significantly decrease N-cadherin, vimentin, Snail and Slug expression by HCT-116 cells, compared to the other groups (Fig. 4). The gene discussed is SNAI2; the disease is ovarian cancer.