Abstract: Objective: To investigate the expression of c-Jun and MMP- 9 in gastric cancer tissues, pa -ra-cancerous tissues and metastastic lymph nodes, and to explore its role and significance for the clinicopath -ology and prognosis. Methods:Immunohistochemistry was employed to detect the expression of c-Jun and MMP-9 in tissue microarrays containing gastric normal mucosa (n=32), para-cancerous tissues ( n=54), metas -tastic lymph nodes ( n=41), and gastric cancer tissues (n=189 ). Results: The positive rates for c-Jun and MMP-9 expression in gastric cancer were73.0% and 78.3%, respectively. The positive rates of c-Jun protein was significantly associated with the degree of differentiation ( P<0.05), but was not associated with the depth of invasion, lymph node metastasis, Lauren type, sex, age or size of tumor (P>0.05). The positive rates of MMP-9 was significantly associated with the depth of invasion, lymph node metastasis, Lauren type and de -gree of differentiation (P<0.05), but was not associated with sex, age or size of tumor ( P>0.05). The positive rates of MMP- 9 expression in the 41gastric cancer tissue samples and 41metastastic lymph node tissue samples were significantly different (P<0.05). In metastastic lymph nodes, the positive rate of MMP-9 expres-sion was higher. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that the survival rate of patients with negative c-Jun and MMP- 9 expression was higher than that of patients with positive c-Jun and MMP-9 expression (P<0.05). COX regression analysis showed that c-Jun and MMP-9 expression was not independent prognostic factor for gastric cancer. Conclusion:The expression of c-Jun is positively associated with the degree of differentiation. The increased c-Jun expression maybe an early indicator of gastric cancer. The high expression of MMP-9 may involve the occurrence, development, invasion, and metastasis of gastric cancer. C-Jun and MMP-9 are useful markers for predicting the outcome of gastric cancer, but they are not independent prognostic factors.