In agreement, an independent real-time quantitative RT-PCR (qPCR) study involving 15 patients' HNSCC-derived primary cells showed significant ∼5.1-fold (P<0.001) upregulation of FOXM1 mRNA compared to normal oral keratinocyte samples derived from four different patients (Fig 1C). This evidence concerns the gene FOXM1 and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.