Moreover, similarly to the overall luminal cells, p63+/− PIMECs were enriched in the cancer-associated and oncogenic Il-4/Il-13, HSP, TGFβ, FGF, NGF, and MAPK pathways46,47,51,54, the self-renewal Notch and Wnt pathways28,48,49, overexpressed a stemness marker Aldh1a3, and had significantly decreased TAp63 target gene, Casp1 (Fig. 5e). Here, NGF is linked to cancer.