ATF3 and metastatic malignant neoplasm in the lymph nodes: Positive expression rate of ATF3 was significantly correlated with TNM stage (P=0.038), invasion (P=0.029), lymph node metastasis (P=0.026), and number of metastatic lymph nodes (P=0.039), but not with patients’ age and primary tumor size (P>0.05, Table 1).