GO and KEGG enrichment analyses revealed that there was a close relationship between MELK-induced tumorigenesis and cell death-, immune response- and tumor signal transduction-related pathways such as “apoptosis”, “cytokine‒cytokine receptor interaction” and “JAK-STAT signaling pathway” (Fig. 4B-C), and GSEA further confirmed that MELK expression was a significant factor in JAK-STAT signaling pathway activation (Fig. 4D). This evidence concerns the gene SOAT1 and neoplasm.