CCN2 and neoplasm: In contrast, tumor cells cultured in the soft model exhibited a broader upregulation of genes associated with proliferation and invasion, including MKKS, PEDS1-UBE2V1, CGB8, LRP11, GNG8, H2AC4, SNX22, CCN1, AURKB, TK1, KRT6A, CCN2, ZWINT, LCE3D, HASPIN, CDCA3, IPO4, and SULT1A3. Among these, CCN1 demonstrated both high expression levels and a strong fold change in the soft model relative to the stiff model, making it one of the most significantly upregulated genes identified by RNA-seq (Fig. 4B).