AKIP1 and metastatic malignant neoplasm in the lymph nodes: Next, the relationship between AKIP1 and clinicopathological variables demonstrated that AKIP1 was closely related with tumour size, T stage, pTNM stage and lymph node metastasis respectively (P < 0.05) (Table 1), suggesting that AKIP1 might function importantly in GC progression and metastasis.