As shown in Table 2, positive rates of Hapto and Gremlin 1 expression were significantly lower in cases with well differentiation, no lymph node metastasis, no invasion of surrounding tissues and organs, a TNM stage of I + II, and radical resection compared to cases with poor differentiation, lymph node metastasis, invasion of surrounding tissues and organs, a TNM stage of III or IV, and no resection (biopsy only) (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01). Here, GREM1 is linked to metastatic malignant neoplasm in the lymph nodes.