Finally, when the list of hub-genes in non-preserved modules was cross-referenced with a separate study of vitamin D response in adult normal mucosa organoids, a number of interesting candidate genes were identified including LCN2, HLA-C and IFI6. LCN2, found to have a RXR motif in its promoter region, is expressed by macrophages and epithelia in response to inflammation (Dahl et al., 2018) and inhibition of LCN2-modulated NF-kB pathway activation by vitamin D has been noted to promote cisplatin sensitivity of oral squamous cell carcinomas (Huang et al., 2019). This evidence concerns the gene LCN2 and oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma.