COL8A1 and gastric cancer: In the cohort from the GEPIA database, the expression of NOX4, COL8A1, and CHST1 in gastric cancer tissues was higher than that in normal tissues, and the expression levels of NOX4 (F = 5.67 and P = 0.0008) and COL8A1 (F = 6.49 and P = 0.0003) differed across the four pathological stages (Figures 11A,B).