Their analysis of a 332-tissue microarray, which was performed along the normal epithelium-atrophic gastritis-dysplasia-carcinoma sequence, showed that TGF-β1 and TβR1 expression continually increased along this sequence, while Smad 2/3 and Smad4 decreased as carcinoma progressed. The gene discussed is SMAD4; the disease is chronic atrophic gastritis.