In H. pylori-induced GC progression, significantly elevated HKDC1 drives epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) via the TGF-β1/p-Smad2 signaling axis, promoting proliferation and metastasis; inhibiting HKDC1 or TGF-β1 effectively reverses this (Fang et al., 2024). The gene discussed is TGFB1; the disease is gastric cancer.