STAT3 and neoplasm: GSEA analysis of CXCL17 also supported the view that CXCL17 might play a protective role in GC tumorigenesis and development, since GC patients with higher CXCL17 mRNA levels had more active immune-related pathways, including IL6-JAK-STAT3, complement, etc., but showed less enrichment of some pathways proven to promote tumor development, such as E2F targets, G2M checkpoint, myc targets, wnt/beta-catenin, and so on.