Across TCGA pan-cancer cohorts, MGA mass-spec protein differs between tumor and matched normal tissue in 4 of 18 cancer types tested, making tumor–normal expression one of MGA’s most consistent transcriptional readouts.
The strongest signal is observed in lung squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC), where MGA mass-spec protein is more highly expressed in tumor relative to normal tissue. In most cancer types MGA is over-expressed in tumor, although a few such as COAD show the opposite, repressed pattern.
LSCC, COAD, and LUAD are the cancer types where MGA tumor–normal differential expression is most reproducible.