In spite of no significant difference between p-Akt expression and pathological differentiation, we found that high p-Akt expression was associated with lymph node metastasis and advanced gastric cancer (for pathological differentiation, HR=1.17, 95%CI: 0.94-1.46, P=0.15; for N status, HR=1.34, 95%CI: 1.11-1.62, P=0.003; and for tumor staging, HR=1.60, 95%CI: 1.27-2.02, P<0.0001). Here, AKT1 is linked to metastatic malignant neoplasm in the lymph nodes.