The possible reasons might be that (1) circ‐MTO1 suppressed the invasion and migration of gastric cancer cells by up‐regulating PAWR via sponging miR‐199a‐3p,22 leading to the less severe lymph node metastasis in gastric cancer patients; (2) circ‐MTO1 also attenuated the proliferation and invasion, as well as promoted the apoptosis of gastric cancer cells via regulating the tumor necrosis factor receptor‐associated factor 4/Eg5 axis,26 resulting in lower TNM stage in gastric cancer patients. Here, MTO1 is linked to gastric cancer.