NANOG is highly expressed in cancer stem cells and may thus function as an oncogene to promote carcinogenesis. High expression of NANOG correlates with poor survival in cancer patients.
Recent research has shown that the localization of NANOG and other transcription factors have potential consequences on cellular function. Experimental evidence has shown that the level of NANOG p8 expression is elevated specially in cancer cells, which mean that NANOG p8 gene is a critical member in (CSCs) Cancer stem cells, so knocking it down could reduce the cancer malignancy.