BACKGROUND: Previous studies have shown that ASPM is a tumorigenesis associated protein, mutations in ASPM can lead to MCPH. This study mainly explores the relationship between the ASPM expression of lung adenocarcinoma and the development and prognosis of lung cancer. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the expression of abnormal spindle-like microcephaly-associated protein (ASPM) in lung adenocarcinoma and the development and prognosis in lung cancer. METHODS: A total of 90 cases of lung adenocarcinoma tissue specimens and 90 cases of benign pulmonary lesions were collected, the expression of ASPM was detected by immunohistochemical technique, and the expression of ASPM in 12 pairs of tissues was detected by real-time quantity polymerase chain reaction and western blot. RESULTS: (1) The expression of ASPM in the tissue specimens of benign pulmonary lesions was negative while the expression level of ASPM in lung adenocarcinoma was significantly higher than lung tissue of benign pulmonary lesions (P<0.05). (2) The expression level of ASPM has no remarkable difference in lung adenocarcinoma with lymph node development and the lung cancer without lymph node development, there was no statistically significant (P<0.05). (3) The ASPM expression level in the tumor's size ≥4 cm was significantly higher than than of the size<4 cm (P<0.05). (4) Hierarchical analysis results show that T stage is related to ASPM expression level (P<0.05). (5) The high expression level of ASPM in lung adenocarcinoma was significantly positively correlated with the poor prognosis (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS (1) The expression level of ASPM in lung cancer is obviously increased and closely related to the progress of lung adenocarcinoma. (2) The expression level of ASPM in lung adenocarcinoma was significantly positively correlated with poor prognosis (P<0.05). (3) Detection of the expression level of ASPM in lung adenocarcinoma help to predict the prognosis of lung adenocarcinoma in advance.