Table 3.

Association of clinicopathological features with MMP14 expression in the tumour nest and CAFs of 71 surgically resected OSCC specimens

	MMP14 expression in CAFs at the TSI			MMP14 expression in the tumour nest at the TSI			MMP14 co-scoring system
	Negative	Positive	p	Low	High	p	Low- risk	High- risk	p
pT			< 0.001			0.44			< 0.01
1.2	16	1		10	7		17	0
3.4	16	38		26	28		30	24
pDOI			< 0.001			0.22			0.22
≤ 10 mm	17	4		13	8		13	8
> 10 mm	15	35		23	27		23	27
Lymph node metastasis			< 0.001			0.02			< 0.001
(-)	21	5		18	8		25	1
(+)	11	34		18	27		22	23
pN			< 0.001			0.02			< 0.01
0,1	24	14		24	14		31	7
2,3	8	25		12	21		16	17
ENE			< 0.01			< 0.001			< 0.001
(-)	26	18		30	14		37	7
(+)	6	21		6	21		10	17
Differentiation			0.37			0.37			0.58
Well	17	28		24	21		27	18
Moderate	13	11		12	12		18	6
Poor	2	0		0	2		2	0
Invasion pattern			0.03			0.06			0.047
1.2	6	1		6	1		7	0
3.4c.4d	26	38		30	34		40	24
DR			< 0.001			0.12			0.21
Mature	17	6		22	15		27	10
Immature	15	33		14	20		20	14
TB			0.02			< 0.01			< 0.01
Low	19	12		23	8		28	3
High	13	27		13	27		19	21
TILs			0.02			0.54			0.08
High	19	12		17	14		24	7
Low	13	27		19	21		23	17
Ly			< 0.001			0.01			0.01
(-)	15	5		15	5		15	5
(+)	17	34		21	30		21	30
V			< 0.001			0.05			0.06
(-)	16	1		12	5		12	5
(+)	16	38		24	30		24	30
Pn			< 0.001			0.04			0.048
(-)	16	6		15	7		15	7
(+)	16	33		21	28		21	28

CAFs, cancer-associated fibroblasts; OSCC, oral squamous cell carcinoma; TSI, tumour–stromal interface; pT, pathological T; pDOI, pathological depth of invasion; pN, pathological N; DR, depth of invasion; TB, tumour budding; TILs, tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes; Ly, lymphatic invasion; V, vascular invasion; p, p-value; Pn, perineural invasion. Boldface indicates statistically significant values