Background and purpose:Spleen Tyrosine Kinase(Syk) may play a significant role in tumor signal transduction.Some studies showed that Syk was an anti-oncogene against oncogene Her-2.We investigated the impact of Syk expression on metastasis and apoptosis of gastric cancer cells in order to explore the new target therapy for the treatment of gastric carcinoma.Methods:Expression of Syk was evaluated by RT-PCR in 44 human gastric cancer tissues and adjacent normal gastric tissue samples,and apoptosis index in gastric carcinoma was detected by flow cytometry.The relationship between apoptosis index in gastric carcinoma and Syk expression was analyzed.Results:All normal gastric tissues demonstrated expression of the Syk gene,while 34 out of 44 gastric cancer tissues did not show any detectable Syk mRNA expression,there was a significant difference between the two groups(?2=9.14,P