Consistent with the immunostaining data, gene expression analysis showed that the astrocytes expressed higher levels of GFAP, Glutamate Aspartate Transporter (GLAST)/Excitatory Amino Acid Transporter 1 (EAAT1), Excitatory amino acid transporter 2 (EAAT2) (Supplementary Figure S5a–c), compared with those of Nestin- and SOX2-expressing NPC or CX3CR1-expressing microglia (Supplementary Figure S5d–f). Here, SLC1A2 is linked to nasopharyngeal carcinoma.