AP-1 proteins, c-Jun (60%; 30/50, p = 0.0001), c-Fos (80%; 40/50, p = 0.0001) and Fra-2 (76%; 38/50, p = 0.0001) showed significantly a higher level of expression specifically in majority of HPV−ve tongue cancer cases as compared to precancer and normal controls (Fig. 3a, Table 3). Here, FOSL2 is linked to tongue cancer.