Patient B had the highest level of ASPH expression (in terms of immunostaining intensity [strong] and distribution [75–100%]) compared to patient A or C. Importantly, all the components in the ADAM12-SRC-MMPs axis were activated in patient B, but not in patient A or C. Tumor development/progression were accelerated with serial passage in the PDX model (Additional file 5: Figure S5F). Here, ADAM12 is linked to neoplasm.