In addition, ICB-related pathways, including cancer immunotherapy by PD-L blockade (NES = 2.41, FDR < 0.001), the CTLA-4 pathway (NES = 2.55, FDR < 0.001) and CD28 family costimulation (NES = 2.45, FDR < 0.001), were related to the upregulated genes in this subtype (Fig. 5B, Additional file 1: Fig. S5CD). This evidence concerns the gene CTLA4 and cancer.