Objective To discuss the relationship of CXCR4 expression with clinical pathology, post-operative metastasis, recurrence and prognosis of gastric cancer patients. MethodsA total of 141 gastric cancer tissues and the corresponding adjacent tissues were taken from patients who were treated in the Department of General Surgery, The Affiliated Provincial Hospital of Anhui Medical University between November 2007 to November 2008.Immunohistochemistry was performed to detect the CXCR4 expression in the gastric cancer tissues and adjacent tissues; the relationship of CXCR4 expression with clinical pathology of the patients was analyzed. The relationship of CXCR4 expression with recurrence and prognosis was analyzed based on a 3 year-follow-up. ResultsThe positive rate of CXCR4 was 60.3%(85/141) in gastric cancer tissues, which was significantly higher than that in the corresponding adjacent tissues 26.2%(37/141, P<0.05). CXCR4 expression in the gastric cancer tissues was positively correlated with the TNM stage, depth of invasion, invasion of the pancreas capsule, and lymphatic metastasis (P<0.05).Logistic multivariate regression analysis showed that lymphatic metastasis and recurrence after surgery were correlated with the expression of CXCR4 in gastric cancer tissues(P<0.05).The 3-year survival rate of patients with CXCR4 expression was significantly lower than patients without CXCR4 expression(43.1% vs 56.6%,P<0.05). ConclusionCXCR4 is over-expressed in gastric cancer tissues, and the expression is positively correlated with the lymphatic metastasis and recurrence after surgery. CXCR4 positive patients have a lower survival rate than patients without CXCR4 expression; all these makes CXCR4 a possible molecular marker for lymphatic metastasis, postoperative recurrence and prognosis in gastric cancer.