Regulation of SMAD protein signal transduction

Across TCGA pan-cancer cohorts, RNA activity of the Regulation of SMAD protein signal transduction pathway differs between tumor and matched normal tissue in 14 of the 18 cancer types tested.

The strongest signal is observed in kidney chromophobe (KICH), where pathway activity is lower in tumor tissue than in matched normal tissue. In most cancer types, this pathway shows higher activity in tumors, although a few cancer types, such as KICH and LUSC, show the opposite pattern, with lower activity in tumor tissue.

KICH, LUSC, and LUAD show the most reproducible tumor–normal differences in pathway activity.

Tumor vs normal pathway activity by lineage

Ranked by sampling consensus. Activity change represents the tumor-versus-normal difference in pathway activity on a log₂ scale. Positive values indicate higher pathway activity in tumor tissue. The reported p-values are derived from the corresponding differential activity tests.

Lineage	Gender	Stage	Activity change	p	Sampling consensus
KICH	Female	All	−0.057	<.001	9	view →
LUSC	Female	All	−0.072	<.001	8	view →
LUAD	Female	III,IV	−0.077	<.001	7	view →
BLCA	All	All	−0.043	.001	7	view →
UCEC	All	III,IV	−0.060	<.001	6	view →
BRCA	All	III,IV	−0.036	<.001	6	view →
COAD	All	All	−0.018	.004	5	view →
KIRP	Male	All	−0.030	.002	4	view →
READ	All	All	−0.043	.004	2	view →
CHOL	All	All	+0.030	.004	2	view →
PRAD	All	All	−0.019	.010	2	view →
LIHC	All	II,III,IV	+0.018	.005	2	view →

Pink = more active in tumor, green = less active in tumor. Showing the 12 strongest of 14 lineages.

GO:0060390–KICH

Open the KICH breakdown →