KIT and metastatic malignant neoplasm in the lymph nodes: In univariate analysis, CD117 expression was the most significant factor for the overall survival of oesophageal SCC patients (P < 0.001), followed by lymph node metastasis (P = 0.001), T stage (P = 0.002), clinical stage (P = 0.006), distant metastasis (P = 0.020), and histological grade (P = 0.027).