When comparing DEGs between plaque/tumor and patch lesions of non-malignant cells that were mutually regulated in each patient, we only found LIFR (leukemia inhibitory factor receptor or CD118) in the EC-1 cluster to be downregulated (Fig. 4 B-C), the receptor for leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) previously characterized as a tumor suppressor gene [29]. This evidence concerns the gene LIFR and neoplasm.