Telomerase reverse transcriptase is also essential for maintaining cancer stemness and stimulates the conversion of non-CSCs to CSCs by protecting them from oxidative stress and inducing VEGF expression-mediated angiogenesis and EMT-mediated metastasis via the promotion of NF-κB-dependent MMP expression (Kong et al., 2014; Zou et al., 2020). This evidence concerns the gene VEGFA and cancer.