In our previous study, we found that CRP level did not show an independent association with lymphatic metastasis although plasma fibrinogen level did [16], suggesting that hyperfibrinogenemia, different from high serum CRP, may not be a simple by-product of inflammatory response caused by tumor progression but might have some etiologic relevance for tumor metastasis and accordingly relationship with clinical outcome in gastric cancer. The gene discussed is CRP; the disease is neoplasm.