In agreement with the findings of the in vitro experiments, SCC9-ΔNp63 xenografts showed significantly increased levels of CD44, KLF4 and SOX2 compared with the SCC9-NC xenografts, while SCC15-shΔNp63 xenograft tumor cells showed decreased levels of CD44, KLF4 and SOX2 compared with the SCC15-NC xenografts (Figure 3E). The gene discussed is CD44; the disease is neoplasm.