Meanwhile, the miR-216b expression was found to be significantly lower and HK2 expression was higher in patients with a lesion size > 2 cm, lymph node metastasis (LNM) and at III stage than in those with lesion size ≤ 2 cm, without LNM and at I/II stage (p < 0.05). Here, HK2 is linked to metastatic malignant neoplasm in the lymph nodes.