TPP1 and gastric cancer: <i>In vitro</i> experiments further confirmed that TPP1 knockdown suppressed gastric cancer cell metastasis, invasion, and clonogenic capacity while inducing apoptosis.<h4>Conclusion</h4>This study characterized the heterogeneity of gastric cancer-associated fibroblasts using single-cell transcriptomic analysis and established a prognostic model based on metastasis-related fibroblast markers.