Pathways related to the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), the TMEs (e.g., hypoxia, angiogenesis, TGF-β signaling), inflammation and apoptosis (e.g., apoptosis, complement, inflammatory response, reactive oxygen species), glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation, and immune response (e.g., TNF-α signaling via NF-κB) were highly enriched in the tumor-adjacent part of margin areas compared to tumor tissues (Fig. 2d; Supplementary information, Fig. S2a). Here, NFKB1 is linked to neoplasm.