Volunteers Recruitment
Two cohorts of volunteers were selected, a discovery group (254), and a validation group (565), both containing individuals who have been diagnosed with OSCC prior to surgery or chemotherapy and individuals diagnosed no OSCC, called healthy contrast (HC). Specifically, 154 individuals have OSCC and 100 are HC in the discovery group, and 424 have OSCC and 141 are HC in the validation group. All human subject research was conducted in compliance with the ethical guidelines established by the Nanjing Stomatological Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University. The race, gender, ages, and body weight index were strictly matched between the two groups. More details about patients’ clinical demographics can be found in the supplementary information (Table S1 ).