Moreover, in accordance with the lack of marked alterations of the SMURF2 mRNA levels in glioma specimens in the TCGA database, we confirmed that the SMURF2 protein level was comparable between control nonneoplastic brain tissue (NB), diffuse astrocytoma (grade II), anaplastic astrocytoma (grade III), and GBM (grade IV) in our clinical samples (Fig. 2b, c). Here, SMURF2 is linked to diffuse astrocytoma.