Consistent with these findings, we demonstrated that human OSCC biopsies show decreased junctional E-cadherin levels at the center of the tumor when compared to the epithelia adjacent to the tumor, while the cell-ECM adhesion proteins paxillin, vinculin and FAK showed a differential distribution in cancer cells at the border of tumor islands close to regions of contact to the fibronectin enriched ECM. This evidence concerns the gene VCL and cancer.