Real-time PCR analysis to detect the expression of claudin-11, -23 in 58 cases of gastric cancer and paracancerous superficial gastritis at the mRNA level showed that the expression of both claudin-11, -23 in gastric cancer was significantly lower than that in the paracancerous superficial gastritis (P = 0.043, P = 4.72*10−4 respectively; Fig 1). Here, CLDN11 is linked to gastric cancer.