In addition, HMGB1 can induce EMT in some tumors, such as prostate cancer, hypopharyngeal carcinoma and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), promoting cell migration and invasion (Li et al., 2017; Meng et al., 2019; Zhang et al., 2018b). This evidence concerns the gene HMGB1 and hypopharyngeal carcinoma.