HPN and metastatic malignant neoplasm: We recruited 169 patients with localized disease and 118 with metastatic cancer at diagnosis, and then, we measured hepsin staining from primary biopsy in order to correlate it with time-to-event variables, laboratory data, genetic alterations, histologic features, etc. Our results demonstrated hepsin was an independent prognosis factor for metastasis and thrombosis in patients with localized disease, whereas among metastatic subjects, lower levels of hepsin were associated with highest tumor dedifferentiation and spread to distant organs.