Patients with down-regulated expressions of BIRC3 demonstrated a statistically significantly enhanced OS compared to patients with higher BIRC3 expression (Fig. 1a) Of note, differential expressions of BIRC5 (survivin) and BIRC4 (XIAP) had no impact on 5-year OS in GBM patients (Fig. 1b–d) despite prior reports of a prognostic role based on tissue expression9, 11. The gene discussed is BIRC3; the disease is glioblastoma.