PTCH1 and gastric cancer: The Shh and Ptch1 proteins were positively expressed in the cytoplasm, and it was found that 71.9% (128/178) and 66.9% (119/178) of the GC tumor specimens stained positively, which were significantly higher in the GC tissues compared with the adjacent non-tumor tissues (71.9 vs. 43.8%; 66.9 vs. 38.2%, P<0.001, respectively).