Across TCGA pan-cancer cohorts, DCX mass-spec protein differs between tumor and matched normal tissue in 1 of 18 cancer types tested, making tumor–normal expression one of DCX’s most consistent transcriptional readouts.
The strongest signal is observed in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), where DCX mass-spec protein is repressed in tumor relative to normal tissue. In most cancer types DCX is over-expressed in tumor, although a few such as PDAC show the opposite, repressed pattern.
PDAC are the cancer types where DCX tumor–normal differential expression is most reproducible.