We therefore suggest that in HNSCC MERTK is important for the metastatic process, which is on the one hand underlined by the fact that patients with high MERTK expression in primary tumors have more often lymph node metastases and on the other hand by our in-vitro results, which show a role for MERTK in migration and invasion. This evidence concerns the gene MERTK and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.