Given that the exact mechanism of regulating ANGPTL4 by the TGF-β/SMAD signaling pathway is still unclear, we first analyzed the transcriptional levels and found that the SMAD2 and SMAD3 mRNA expression levels were markedly elevated in CRC cells in the presence of ADSCs (Fig. 5F). The gene discussed is SMAD2; the disease is colorectal carcinoma.