As shown in Figs. 2A and 2B, the expression level of TOB1 was positively correlated with the expression levels of ATG3 (R = 0.32, ***P = 2 × e−11) and ATG7 (R = 0.23, ***P = 1.7 × e−06) in gastric cancer tissues but not in normal gastric tissue (ATG3, R = 0.027, P = 0.7; ATG7, R = 0.033, P = 0.64) (Figs. 2C and 2D). This evidence concerns the gene ATG7 and gastric cancer.