The IHC assays further showed that high HAPLN1 levels were observed in 51.61% patients with locally advanced gastric cancer (Table s3), and its levels were positively correlated with tumour T staging (P < 0.0001), lymph node metastasis (LNM) (P = 0.0006) and TNM stage (P = 0.0063). This evidence concerns the gene HAPLN1 and metastatic malignant neoplasm in the lymph nodes.