SPP1 and neoplasm: Analysis of each gene identified substantial predictive power for each individual gene within this risk signature, and further model refinement highlighted that a minimal signature of TNXB, COL7A1, and SPP1 achieved comparable predictive power in the NCI-MD cohort as measured by ROC curve analysis (Additional file 1: Fig. S2C), suggesting the key importance of these matrix components in tumor microenvironment ECM remodeling.