Moreover, alterations correlated with distant metastasis emereged with significantly increased expression in SAMRCD1 in low-ITK group, but CD244 and SOCS1 in high-ITK group (p < 0.001; Fig. 5B and Additional file 5: Table S4), which indicated as oncogene or tumor suppressors in numerous cancers and potential therapeutic targets. This evidence concerns the gene ITK and neoplasm.