One population of tumor-induced erythroblast-like cells (CD45-Ter119+CD71+, Ter-cells) derived from MEPs (186, 224), accumulate in the spleen of patients with terminal cancer and secret artemin, where artemin is a neurotrophic factor with an important role in cancer progression through its induction of Caspase-9 Thr125 phosphorylation, to maintain cell survival, and upregulation of TRIOBP and ITGB5 expression, to promote invasion. The gene discussed is CASP9; the disease is neoplasm.