Gastric cancer cells express a variety of growth factors and their corresponding receptors, including epidermal growth factor/receptor (EGF/R) (37), TGF-β/R and vascular endothelial cell growth factor/receptor (VEGF/R), fibroblast growth factor/receptor (bFGF/R), and platelet-derived endothelial cell growth factor/receptor (PD-ECGF/R), which are involved in tumor cell growth, angiogenesis, invasion and proliferation, respectively (37,38). The gene discussed is EGFR; the disease is gastric cancer.