In squamous cell carcinomas, CK18 up-regulation was preferentially seen in cancers with advanced stage (13.2%/136 pT1-2 vs 27.7%/94 pT3-4; p = 0.0154), presence of lymph node metastasis (14.7%/95 pN0 vs 26.1%/92; p = 0.0354) and high grade (14.9%/134 G1-2 vs 28.0%/75 G3; p = 0.0767, data not shown). Here, KRT18 is linked to cancer.