This module contained the interleukin receptor IL2B gene, and IPA analysis showed that 11 of the 35 genes in this module are known to be regulated by the cytokine IL2, and 16 of them are related to cancer (Additional file 11) including the female-biased genes PRF1 and GZMH essential for natural killer (NK)-cell cytotoxicity [62,63]. Here, PRF1 is linked to cancer.