RNA-seq results from another study strongly supported our findings that compared with Normal Human Epidermal Keratinocytes (NHEKs), HOXA9 is significantly downregulated in cSCC tumors while HIF-1α and its downstream glycolytic genes are mainly upregulated38 (One-way ANOVA, P < 0.05) (Supplementary Fig. 3). Here, HOXA9 is linked to skin squamous cell carcinoma.