To evaluate the role of STC2 in a physiological context, we first run a large-scale Kaplan-Meier Plotter analysis and found that elevated STC2 levels were associated with poor prognosis in patients with a variety of tumours including HCC, cervical squamous cell carcinoma, thymoma, oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma, renal papillary cell carcinoma, stomach adenocarcinoma, sarcoma, head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, bladder cancer and lung squamous cell carcinoma (Supplementary Fig. S8). This evidence concerns the gene STC2 and papillary renal cell carcinoma.