SPDL1 and metastatic malignant neoplasm in the lymph nodes: In the NSCRC set, the univariate Cox regression model revealed that gender, TNM stage, pathological T stage, lymph node metastasis, tumor differentiation, tumor budding, vessel invasion, tumor deposit, sPD-L1 expression level, and CD8+ T cells density were associated with OS (p < 0.05) (Table 4), and the multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that gender, pathological T stage, TNM stage, tumor deposit, and CD8+ T cells density were independent prognosis factors (p < 0.05) (Table 4).