Cancer-associated fibroblasts promote oral squamous cell carcinoma progression through LOX-mediated matrix stiffness

Table 2 Associations between clinical variables and expression levels of α-SMA and LOX in stroma

Variable	No.	α-SMA expression			LOX expression
		Low	High	P-value	Low	High	P-value
Sex				0.731			0.356
Male	59	25	34		23	36
Female	37	17	20		11	26
Age(years)				0.854			0.54
≤ 50	22	10	12		9	13
> 50	74	32	42		25	49
Tumor location				0.308			0.662
Tongue	32	14	18		11	21
Gingiva	21	6	15		9	12
Buccal mucosa	26	12	14		7	19
Others	17	10	7		7	10
Tumor size				0.028			0.212
T1	18	12	6		9	9
T2	43	18	25		14	29
T3	22	9	13		8	14
T4	13	3	10		3	10
Lymph node metastasis				0.496			0.527
N0	58	27	31		22	36
N	38	15	23		12	26
Distant metastasis
M0	96	42	54		34	62
M	0	0	0		0	0
Clinical stage				0.012			0.042
I	13	10	3		7	6
II	25	11	14		11	14
III	30	13	17		9	21
IV	28	8	20		7	21
Pathological grade				0.986			0.208
I	58	25	33		23	35
II	30	14	16		9	21
III	6	2	4		1	5

No., number of patients; N0, no lymph node metastasis; N, lymph node metastasis; M0, no metastasis; M, metastasis; Bold values signify P < 0.05.

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