Research indicates that CAF-CM or co-culture with CAF systems can augment cancer cell stemness; stimulate the expression of CD44 and CD133; enhance spheroid formation in vitro; and facilitate the self-renewal and proliferation of CSCs in malignancies such as lung (Liu et al., 2022), prostate (Giridharan et al., 2022), breast (Cui et al., 2023), and colorectal cancers (Owen et al., 2022). The gene discussed is CD44; the disease is cancer.