SPI1 and cancer: Altogether, these data show that TGF-β receptor-SMAD signaling induces VIM-AS1 v.2 expression in several cancer and nontumorigenic cells through the formation of complexes between receptor-SMADs with GATA6 and SPI1, which bind specific VIM-AS1 v.2 enhancer-promoter sequences upstream from the v.2 TSS.