In epithelial cancer, MUC-1(mucin-1) overexpression is thought to disrupt E-cadherin function, leading to anchorage-independent tumor cell growth and metastases. Elevated levels of MUC-1 expression have been found in patients with epithelial cancers of breast, ovarian, colon and lung. Furthermore, overexpression of MUC-1 is independently correlated with adverse clinical phenotypes, metastases and resistance to chemotherapy. In animal models, suppressing the expression of MUC-1 reduces the rates of growth and metastasis and increases the sensitivity of the cancer to chemotherapy-induced cell death.