POU6F2 and metastatic malignant neoplasm in the lymph nodes: Univariate Cox regression analysis suggested that POU6F2-AS1 expression, TNM stage, depth of invasion, lymph node metastasis, and distant metastasis were significant risk factors in terms of OS (Fig. 1K), while multivariate Cox analysis showed that POU6F2-AS1 expression and TNM stage could serve as independent prognostic factors in terms of OS in CRC patients (Fig. 1L).