Our analysis has yielded novel and stage-salient drivers of cancer progression, including two stage-I salient genes (CHRNA6, MMP10), two stage-II salient genes (DEPDC1, COXA1), ten stage-III salient genes (including AKR7A3, FOXA1, CXCL5 and GDF5) and 20 stage-IV salient genes (including FREM1 and HFM1). Here, AKR7A3 is linked to cancer.