NANOG and lip and oral cavity carcinoma: The present study was conducted to comprehensively investigate the clinical relevance of NANOG expression in both early stages of oral carcinogenesis and late stages of disease progression, by analyzing NANOG protein expression using immunohistochemistry in large series of oral dysplastic lesions and OSCC tissue specimens, to establish correlations with the risk of progression to oral cancer, impact on OSCC prognosis and patient outcome.