SOX9 and metastatic malignant neoplasm in the lymph nodes: Additionally, Wang et al. [13], in a meta-analysis of 17 studies comprising 2893 GC patients, reported that SOX9 expression was associated with age, tumor size, histological differentiation, tumor stage, lymph node metastasis, advanced TNM staging, and poor overall survival, but not with sex, vascular invasion, or distant metastasis.