Specifically, the CCL20 module displayed an AUC = 0.65 (P = 0.002) for discriminating normal from cancer in Cohort-1, and an AUC = 0.7 (P = 0.11) in Cohort-2, the non-significance in Cohort-2 attributable to the much smaller sample size of Cohort-2 (Fig. 5d, Additional file 1: Figs. S10, S11). This evidence concerns the gene CCL20 and cancer.