Stratified at the median, HNSCC patients with <0.43 mM of free thiol or <2.4 g per dL of non-oxidized albumin at mid-treatment demonstrated significantly inferior lung metastasis-free survival (hazard ratio = 5.3 [95% CI 1.1–26.7] and 9.8 [95% CI 1.2–80.0], respectively; Fig. 5d, e) compared to patients with higher than the median values. The gene discussed is ALB; the disease is head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.