To our surprise, stringent analysis showed that only tumor stage (TNM), metastasis status and expression of FOXO4 was independent prognostic factors of patient survival, suggesting that expression of TET1 and EpCAM were associated with any of the three independent factors to predict prognosis (Table S1), and FOXO4 is worthy of further translational exploration as an independent prognostic factor. Here, EPCAM is linked to neoplasm.