Objective To analyze the expression of molecular biological markers in patients with early stage adenocarcinoma of lung and to determine the correlation between combined expression and prognosis. Methods Pathologic specimens were collected from 68 patients of early stage adenocarcinoma of lung in our hospital between 2000 to 2002. A panel of molecular markers, including Ki-67, Her-2, P16, P53, VEGF, MMP-9 and CD44v6, were chosen for immunohistochemical analysis of the tumor. Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was used to ana-lyze the relationship between expression of these factors and prognosis. Results Muhivariable analysis demonstrated significantly elevated risk for the following molecular markers: P53 (RR=3.228,95.0% CI 1.331-7.828, P=0.010),MMP-9(RR=2.071,95.0% CI 1.062-4.036,P=0.033),VEGF (RR=2.577,95.0% CI 1.124-5.908, P=0.025). The survival period in the patients with combined expression was remarkably shortened. Conclusions Combined evaluation of P53, VEGF and MMP-9 has clinical significance to the prognosis of early stage adenocarcino-ma of lung.