Moreover, a high TLR7 expression indicated a better prognosis amongst patients with stage III disease (HR 0.60; 95% CI 0.38–0.95; p = 0.029; Fig. 3E), amongst those with a pT4 tumour (HR 0.51; 95% CI 0.32–0.80, p = 0.003), and amongst those with lymph-node metastasis (HR 0.67; 95% CI 0.47–0.96; p = 0.029). Here, TLR7 is linked to metastatic malignant neoplasm in the lymph nodes.