Moreover, the IHC assays indicated a robust positive correlation between the expression of SIX1 and age (χ2=4.057, P=0.044) as well as grade (χ2=9.763, P=0.002), while no significant associations were observed between SIX1 expression and other clinicopathological features in EC patients, including stage (χ2=0.672, P=0.412), histological subtypes (χ2=0.400, P=0.527), and lymph node metastasis (χ2=1.769, P=0.288) (Table S6). This evidence concerns the gene SIX1 and metastatic malignant neoplasm in the lymph nodes.