Background and purpose: The recurrence and metastasis of gastric cancer seriously affect survival in patients. SOX gene as a regulatory factor of the classical Wnt pathway

may play an important role in the process. This study was to explore the expression of stem cell marker SOX-2 and β-catenin in gastric cancer and to analyze the relationship with recurrence and metastasis after operation. Methods: Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the expression of SOX-2 and β-catenin in 71 tumor samples from 71 cases after surgery for gastric cancer. The correlation between SOX-2 and β-catenin expression and the clinicopathological characteristics of gastric cancer and disease-free survival was analyzed. Results: The SOX-2 protein expression was associated with metastasis

lymph node infiltration or differentiation (P=0.011

P=0.036

P=0.034) in the 71 gastric cancer

but not with gender

age or T stage.β-catenin expression was correlated with metastasis

lymph node invasion or T stage (P=0.025

P=0.014

P=0.026)

but was not related to differentiation

gender or age. The survival analysis showed that SOX-2 and β-catenin expression was closely associated with prognosis of patients

and metastatic rate in positive expression was higher than that in negative expression. Conclusion: The expression of SOX-2 and β-catenin is associated with the development

recurrence

metastasis of gastric cancer and may be used as a useful prognostic parameter to predict overall survival.