Contents Chapter 1 General introduction 7 Chapter 2 Context, background, aims, and outline of the thesis 27 Chapter 3 Absent and abundant MET immunoreactivity is associated with poor prognosis of patients with oral and oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma 39 Chapter 4 MET ectodomain shedding is associated with poor disease-free survival of patients diagnosed with oral squamous cell carcinoma 83 Chapter 5 A novel immunohistochemical scoring system reveals associations of C-terminal MET, ectodomain shedding, and loss of E-cadherin with poor prognosis in oral squamous cell carcinoma 139 Chapter 6 The potential of MET immunoreactivity for prediction of lymph node metastasis in early oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma 187 Chapter 7 The occurrence of MET ectodomain shedding in oral cancer and its potential impact on the use of targeted therapies 209 Chapter 8 General discussion, conclusion, and future perspective 229 Chapter 9 Summary 251 Chapter 10 Samenvatting 259 Addendum List of used abbreviations, gene symbols, and terms 271 PhD portfolio 274 List of publications 277 Acknowledgements 280 Curriculum vitae 283
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