CDH3 is a key gene in GC. (A) A total of 251 upregulated differentially expressed genes overlapped between GSE118916 and GSE79973 mRNA expression profiles. (B) Gene Ontology enrichment analysis of the 251 upregulated genes was performed using STRING. (C) A total of 16 genes were involved in ‘cell adhesion’ and ‘regulation of cell population proliferation’ according to STRING analysis. (D) High CDH3, COL18A1 and FAP expression was observed in tumor tissues based on TCGA database. The blue and red colors in TCGA database represent low and high expression, respectively. Reverse transcription-quantitative PCR detection of the expression levels of (E) CDH3, (F) COL18A1 and (G) FAP in collected GC and adjacent normal tissues (n=30). Data are presented as the mean ± SD, and at least three independent tests were performed per experiment. **P<0.001. GC, gastric cancer; CDH3, cadherin 3; COL18A1, collagen type XVIII α1 chain; FAP, fibroblast activation protein; TCGA, The Cancer Genome Atlas.