MDK and cancer: Heatmap of differential gene expression in GGN-ADC and SADC showed that some cancer-promoting genes, such as HSPB1, CCL2, CXCL14, MDK, and MMP7, were highly expressed in SADC, indicating that the cancer cells derived from SADC had a higher malignant degree than those derived from GGN-ADC (Fig. 2n).