In many but not all of theses cancers, this decreased or lack of expression appears due to methylation of the GpC islands in the promoter region, and thereby the silencing, of the CMTM3 gene.

[9] Moreover, low cancer tissue levels of CTMT3 protein were found to be associated with poorer prognoses compared to cases with higher levels of this protein in cancers of the stomach,[10] esophagus,[11] nasopharynx (i.e. oral squamous cell carcinoma type),[12] and prostate gland.

Further studies are needed to support this suggestion and determine if CMTM3 protein can be a useful clinical marker to predict the severity of these cancers and/or serve as a therapeutic target for treating them.

[5][6][7] Contrastingly, other studies have reported that: 1) CMTM3 protein promoted the proliferation of cultured glioblastoma immortalized cells; 2) high levels of CMTM3 protein were associated with shorter survival times in individuals with glioblastomas[7][14] and gastric cancer;[15] 3) analyses of 178 patients with pancreatic cancer found that their tumor tissues had higher CMTM3 protein levels than normal nearby pancreas tissues; and 4) patients with high levels of CMTM3 protein in their pancreatic cancer tissues had poorer prognoses and overall survival rates compared to patients with lower CMTM3 levels in their pancreatic cancer tissues.

They support further studies to confirm this suggestion, to determine if CMTM3 can be use as a prognostic indicator and a clinical therapeutic target for these three cancer types.