A four-protein panel (ARG1, CA2, F13A1, S100A12) achieved 94.1–98.2% AUROC (95% CI) for distinguishing cancer from non-cancer cases, while a five-protein panel (ARG1, CA2, HPT, MAN2A1, LBP) reached 97.3–99.5% AUROC (95% CI) for distinguishing cancer or preneoplasia from healthy or non-atrophic gastritis cases on the full cohort. The gene discussed is ARG1; the disease is cancer.