Strikingly, comparative analysis of significantly enriched ‘Hallmark gene sets’ (FDR < 0.05) in MED samples and in the two NSCLC cell lines (NCI-H1993 and CDDP-R) revealed that ‘INTERFERON-ALPHA (IFN-α) RESPONSE’ and ‘INTERFERON-GAMMA (IFN-γ) RESPONSE’ were overlapping and enriched in LNmets of pN2 patients likewise in low-miR-455-5p expressing NSCLC cell lines with the same trend of regulation (Fig. 5C–E, Additional file 19: Table S3B–D). The gene discussed is IFNG; the disease is non-small cell lung carcinoma.