S-I showed high expression of pathway genes related to the immune system and DNA damage repair such as CXCL9, CXCL10, CXCL11, HLAA, HLAB, HLAF, APEX, APEX2, and RBX1. S-II was characterized by genes mainly associated with metabolic and transcription pathways (GLSL, SSDH, ALAT2, DYR, PPBT, GATM, CHDH, SERA, PRPF39, THOC1), while the gene signature of S-III was extensively involved in pathways reflecting malignancies, including many core kinases and transcription factors involved in cancer such as CDK6, ERBB2, JAK1, DAPK1, FOXO1, and RXRA (Figure 2E). This evidence concerns the gene APEX2 and cancer.