CASP3 and neoplasm: In patients with advanced stage (AJCC pathological stage III + IV, p = 0.004), large tumor size (T3 + T4, p = 0.002), or lymph node invasion (N1+N2, p = 0.001), co-expression levels of positive cleaved caspase-3 or/and higher caspase-3 or both were significantly associated with longer DSS compared to those with negative cleaved caspase-3 and lower caspase-3 expression (Fig 5).