Copy number analysis of samples from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) using the cBioPortal database indicated that GPAA1 expression was extensively upregulated in various types of malignancies, such as lung, pancreas, uterine, liver and prostate cancers (Fig. 1a), and was particularly upregulated in a considerable proportion of gastric cancers, oesophageal cancers and breast cancers (Fig. 1b). Here, GPAA1 is linked to prostate cancer.