Specific to each tumor, although only STAD showed a significant difference between two groups (Fig. 1e, f), a trend of poor prognosis still shown in TGF-βhigh-specific COAD and ESAD patients (Fig. 1g, h, Additional file 1: Fig. S1b–e), which partially elucidated the causality of poor prognosis and TGF-β pathway activity. The gene discussed is TGFB1; the disease is neoplasm.