In more advanced stages, the increases in AXL expression were significant: average expression was significantly higher in lymph node metastases compared to primary tumors (p < 0.001) and still higher in local recurrences compared to lymph node metastases (p < 0.001, Figure 1B), indicating the increasing importance of AXL during HNSCC tumor progression. The gene discussed is AXL; the disease is head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.