Abstract: Lymphatic metastasis is an important route of gastrointestinal cancer metastasis, but little is known about the mechanism of lymph node metastasis in gastrointestinal cancer. In this paper, we review the mechanism of regional lymph node metastasis and its relationship with lymphatic metastasis in gastrointestinal cancer. Keywords: gastrointestinal cancer; lymph node; metastasis Regional lymph node (RLN) is of great importance in tumor diagnosis, staging and surgical treatment, and is one of the most important factors in the prognosis of gastrointestinal cancer patients. However, the key steps of lymph node metastasis and its mechanism have not been clarified yet [1,2]. In recent years, important progress has been made in the study of the mechanism of lymphatic metastasis in gastrointestinal cancer. Lymph node metastasis requires a complex series of interrelated steps, and this review focuses on the following aspects: the anatomical pathway of tumor cell metastasis from the primary tumor site to regional lymph nodes, the importance of lymphatic vessel generation in regional lymph node metastasis, and the role of chemokine receptors in the process of targeted tumor cell migration.