Across TCGA pan-cancer cohorts, NKX2-1-AS1 RNA differs between tumor and matched normal tissue in 5 of 18 cancer types tested, making tumor–normal expression one of NKX2-1-AS1’s most consistent transcriptional readouts.
The strongest signal is observed in lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC), where NKX2-1-AS1 RNA is repressed in tumor relative to normal tissue. In most cancer types NKX2-1-AS1 is over-expressed in tumor, although a few such as LUSC show the opposite, repressed pattern.
LUSC, BLCA, and HNSC are the cancer types where NKX2-1-AS1 tumor–normal differential expression is most reproducible.