Although no statistical difference of distant metastasis was found, the PTENP1 or PTEN downregulated patients showed significant and more frequent lymph node metastasis (PTENP1: p = 0.032; PTENP1: p = 0.018), indicating PTENP1 or PTEN could be a potential valuable biomarker for predicting lymph node metastasis in GC patients (Supplementary Figure 1). Here, PTEN is linked to metastatic malignant neoplasm in the lymph nodes.