The regulation of iron depletion by FTH1 can slow down the self-renewal of breast cancer stem cells (Kanojia et al., 2012), while silencing FTH1 in SKOV3 cells can promote the stemness of cervical cancer cells and the up-regulation of NANOG, SOX2, OCT4 (Lobello et al., 2016). The gene discussed is NANOG; the disease is breast cancer.