The results of the IHC analysis of the 153 patients showed that the positive expression of NOB1 was significantly associated with the TNM clinical stage (P = 0.003), lymph node metastasis (P = 0.017) and differentiation (P = 0.030) (Fig. 3, Table 1). The gene discussed is NOB1; the disease is metastatic malignant neoplasm in the lymph nodes.