Tumors are typically stiffer than the surrounding normal tissues due to an increased ECM deposition by cancer-associated fibroblasts that express alpha-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) (Bauer et al., 2020), allowing the tumor to biomechanically interact with and respond to the stiffness of the ECM (Wullkopf et al., 2018). This evidence concerns the gene ACTA1 and neoplasm.