CXCR4 and neoplasm: We confirmed that eleven out of fifteen genes differentially expressed in ALA+ versus ALA− GASC (ACKR3, CCL2, CXCL11, CXCL2, CXCL8, CXCR4, EGFR, IL1B, SPP1,TGFB1 and CCR1) were also upregulated in TCGA tumor patients, while the remaining four (CXCL1, CXCL5, PD-L1 and PTGS2) showed a similar, but not statistically significant, trend (Figure 5).