TGFB1 and cancer: For example, TGFβ signaling initially restricts their proliferation in intestinal stem cells, but as tumors progress, cancer cells can hijack the TGFβ signaling pathway, where mutations can lead to constitutive activation of downstream pathways, and this abnormal activation promotes the self-renewal of CSCs, enabling them to continuously generate more cancer cells and contribute to tumor growth, metastasis, and drug resistance (Chen et al. 2024).