SP7 and neoplasm: Multivariate survival analysis was performed using Cox’s proportional hazard method, and included tumour size, tumour grade, and stage, low nuclear osterix expression was independently associated with distant metastasis free survival (hazard ratio (HR) = 0.777, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.614–0.982, P = 0.034), but not disease specific survival (HR = 0.826, 95% CI = 0.644–1.058, P = 0.130).