NOTCH1 and gastritis: The NICD protein was expressed in 67.9% (74/109), 36.8% (21/57), 30.0% (15/50) and 23.5% (4/17) of the gastric cancer, precancerous lesion, chronic superficial gastritis and normal gastric mucosa samples, respectively, suggesting that NICD expression was upregulated in the gastric cancer and premalignant lesions.