Interestingly, the expression status of IRX2 was upregulated in early gastric cancer (EGC) compared with low-grade intraepithelial neoplasia (LGIN), one of the last stages of precancerous lesions [95,96,97], in a study of hub genes regulating EGC in a Chinese (Qinghai) population. Here, IRX2 is linked to gastric cancer.