BCL2L1 and cancer: Our analysis identified several known cancer driver genes (Additional file 3), such as KRAS, PIK3CA, BRCA, BCL2, which regulate crucial pathways involved in apoptosis (i.e., BCL2, BAX, BCL2L1/11), hypoxia and energy metabolism (i.e., GNG4/7, ADCY5/7/8/9), angiogenesis (i.e., HLA-G/F, FGF5) and proliferation (i.e., BRIP1, BRCA1, TOPBP1, BLM) [13, 15].