MTA3 and metastatic malignant neoplasm in the lymph nodes: In the univariate analysis, male sex (P = 0.026), stage III disease (vs. stage I or II; P = 0.001), lymph node metastasis (P = 0.001), distant metastasis (P = 0.001), a lack of E-cadherin expression (P = 0.001), Snail expression (P = 0.006), and loss of MTA3 expression (P<0.001) were associated with decreased OS (Table 3).