Importantly, we found that MSI2 depletion in CAFs led to a repression of EMT in NSCLC cells—our data revealed a low level of mesenchymal markers (vimentin, N-cadherin, and Slug) and a high level of epithelial markers (E-cadherin and ZO-1) in the gMSI2 CAF-CM group as compared with Ctrl CAF-CM (Fig. 6B; Additional file 2: Fig. S14). Here, CDH1 is linked to non-small cell lung carcinoma.