Fig. 1: Study workflow.

SEER Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results, LNM lymph node metastasis, IPTW inverse probability of treatment weighting, K‒M Kaplan–Meier, sc-RNA single-cell RNA, DIA data-independent acquisition, MS mass spectrometry, H&E hematoxylin & eosin staining, IHC immunohistochemistry, AI artificial intelligence.