Across TCGA pan-cancer cohorts, ARPP21-AS1 RNA differs between tumor and matched normal tissue in 1 of 18 cancer types tested, making tumor–normal expression one of ARPP21-AS1’s most consistent transcriptional readouts.
The strongest signal is observed in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSC), where ARPP21-AS1 RNA is repressed in tumor relative to normal tissue. In most cancer types ARPP21-AS1 is over-expressed in tumor, although a few such as HNSC show the opposite, repressed pattern.
HNSC are the cancer types where ARPP21-AS1 tumor–normal differential expression is most reproducible.