Interestingly, carcinoma cells from patient 28 did not reciprocally respond to the presence of macrophages, suggesting that perhaps extended culture may result in epigenetic repression of transcriptional programs responding to the presence of TAMs, and/or the low levels of the Osteopontin receptor CD44 in this tumoroid line (Fig. 6B, D). This evidence concerns the gene CD44 and carcinoma.