Previous studies have shown that TGFA is linked to ERBB signaling, cell survival, and growth (Hua et al., 2016; Xu et al., 2020), while Cx43 has been reported to inhibit cancer cell growth through cell-cell communication or protein-protein interactions (Mehta et al., 1999; Ionta et al., 2009). Here, GJA1 is linked to cancer.