An unbiased comparison of normal dividing GNP cells and dividing GNP-like tumor cells revealed 332 genes (Additional file 8: Table S7) that were preferentially expressed in dividing GNP-like tumor cells, including progenitor-related genes (such as Hes1, Atoh1, Zeb1, and Mycn) and cell cycle genes (such as Cdkn2a, Cdkn1a, Pou4f1, and Ube2b) (Fig. 8d). This evidence concerns the gene HES1 and neoplasm.