Figure 3.

High expression levels of SPARC/MMP9/CD44 are associated with poor clinical outcomes in HNSCC. (A-C) Relative SPARC/MMP9/CD44 gene expression levels in normal tissue, primary tissue, and lymph node metastasis. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) analysis obtained from the HPA database revealed high protein expression levels of SPARC/MMP9/CD44 oncogenes in HNSCC tissues compared to those in normal tissues [52]. (D-I) Higher staining intensity of SPARC, MMP9, and CD44 in HNSCC tissues (lower panels) than the normal tissues (upper panels). (J) Bar graph showing significant upregulation of SPARC and MMP9, as compared to CD44 in HNSCC, suggesting their association with cancer metastasis. (K-M) Kaplan Meier survival curves revealed that a high expression level of SPARC/MMP9/CD44 signature was associated with shorter survival probability and disease-specific survival (DSS) time compared to those with lower expression.