VEGFD and gastric cancer: When comparing the levels of serum biomarkers of angiogenesis in GC patients versus healthy individuals, we found significantly higher levels of bFGF (p = 0.0012), PlGF (p = 0.004), sFLT-1 (p < 0.001), VEGF (p < 0.001), and VEGF-C (p < 0.001) and lower levels of sTIE2 (p < 0.001) and VEGF-D (p = 0.002) (Supplementary Fig. 3a).