Meanwhile, Gli1 expression affected the survival in patients with stage T3-T4 (P = 0.021, Fig. 3), positive lymph node metastasis (P = 0.001, Fig. 3) and stage III-IV (P = 0.012, Fig. 3), indicating that patients at the same depth of tumor invasion (stage T3-T4), lymph node metastasis (positive) or same TNM stage (stage III-IV), patients with Gli1 positive expression could have a significant poorer survival than others. Here, GLI1 is linked to metastatic malignant neoplasm in the lymph nodes.