IGF1 has been reported to be associated with survival in bladder urothelial carcinoma, [41] and higher expression of SERPINE1 has also been reported to be an adverse factor in lung cancer[50] .In addition, S6 expressed KRT19 and WT1, indicating that S6 resembles the mesothelial phenotype [55].The remaining CAF subgroup (S5) was characterized by enrichment of collagens (COL12A1, COL1A1 and COL3A1), INHBA and MMPs (MMP1 and MMP11) (Additional file 13: Fig. S6B, Additional file 14: Fig. S7B). Here, COL3A1 is linked to lung cancer.