Cells were cultured in serum free medium (SFM) as previously reported to enrich CSCs from HCT116 and HT29[24 (link)]. The SFM consisted of DMEM/F12 medium (Life Technologies, United States) supplemented with 20 ng/mL epidermal growth factor (EGF, Invitrogen, United States), 10 ng/mL basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF, Invitrogen, United States), 2% B27 supplement (Life Technologies, USA) in 6-well ultra-low-adherent plates (Cat#3471, Corning, NY, United States). Culture medium was replaced twice a week, and CSCs were passaged every six to seven days using TrypLE (Gibco, NY, United States).