Objective To investigate the expression and signficance of secretory phospholipase A2(sPLA2>) in gastric adenocareinoma. Methods Sixty-five samples of gastric adenocarcinoma (11 with high differentiation, 10 with median differentiation and 44 with low differentiation) and 11 samples of normal gastric mucosa had been obtained from the Second Affiliated Hospital of Jilin University from January 2006 to April 2007. Fifty samples of gastric adenocarcinoma were found with lymph node metastasis. The expression of sPLA2> in gastric adenocarcinoma and normal gastric mucosa was detected. The relationship between sPLA2> and the differentiation of gastric adenoearcinoma, lymph node metastasis and helicobacter pylori infection was detected. All the data were processed with chi-square test or Spearman rank correlation. Results The positive rates of the sPLA2> expression in normal gastric mucosa and gastric adenocarcinoma were 36% (4/11) and 78% (51/65). The positive rates of sPLA2> expression in low, median and high differentiated gastric adenocarcinoma were 84% (37/44), 70% (7/10) and 64% (7/11), respectively. The expression of sPLA2> was positively correlated with the malignancy of gastric adenocarcinoma (r =0.272, P <0.05). The positive rates of sPLA2> expression in gastric adenocarcinoma with and without lymph node metastasis were 88% (44/50) and 47% (7/15), respectively. The expression of sPLA2> was correlated with lymph node metastasis (X2 = 9. 347, P < 0.05). The positive rates of sPLA2> expression in gastric adenocarcinoma with and without helicobacter pylori infection were 79% (38/48) and 76% (13/17), respectively. The expression of sPLA2> was not correlated with helicobacter pylori infection (X2 = 0. 000, P > 0.05). Conclusions The activation of sPLA2> gene may be correlated with the genesis of gastric adenocarcinoma. sPLA2> may influence the invasion of gastric adenocarcinoma, and can be used as an indicator in predicting poor prognosis.