Regarding the general prognostic value of TGFα, data are quite inconsistent; high TGFα levels in the tumour were correlated with lymph node metastasis, poor overall survival, advanced TNM stage and tumour size in some studies (Aoyagi et al. 2001; Celikel et al. 2007; Espinoza et al. 2004; Fanelli et al. 2012). Here, TGFA is linked to neoplasm.