The pathway analyses of the hub genes were conducted using KOBAS 3.0 and pathways with the top three P-value were proteoglycans in cancer (P = 1.67 × 10− 6), extracellular matrix organization (P = 5.2 × 10− 6) and syndecan interactions (P = 5.36 × 10− 6) (Fig. 4b). This evidence concerns the gene SDC1 and cancer.