SOX2 and metastatic malignant neoplasm: We found that expression of Oct4, Sox2, Gli1, CD44, CD133, p-AKT, and p-ERK was significantly higher in metastatic lesions than in primary GC lesions, with a positive rate of original versus metastatic cancer tissues at 59.4% versus 75.0% (Oct4, p = 0.003), 52.5% versus 80.6% (Sox2, p = 0.000), 53.5% versus 73.6% (Gli1, p = 0.007), 42.6% versus 72.2% (CD44, p = 0.000), 32.7% versus 70.8% (CD133, p = 0.000), 80.2% versus 93.1% (p-AKT, p = 0.018), and 35.6% versus 65.3% (p-ERK, p = 0.000), respectively (Figure 4).