ObjectiveTo investigate the expressions of Aurka mRNA and its protein in gastric cancer and adjacent tissues, and to analyzed the relationship between the expression level of Aurka mRAN and clinicopathological characteristics of gastric cancer patients. MethodsRetrospectively collected the gastric cancer and adjacent tissues of 198 gastric cancer patients who treated in the Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College between April 2011 and September 2013. Using real time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) method and immunohisto-chemical staining to detected expressions of Aurka mRNA and its protein of gastric cancer and adjacent tissues respectively. At the same time explored the relationship between expression level of Aurka mRNA in gastric cancer tissues and the clinico-pathological features of gastric cancer patients. ResultsRT-PCR results showed that, the expression level of Aurka mRNA in gastric cancer tissues was 16.62±1.85, which was significantly higher than that of adjacent tissues (7.10±1.59), P < 0.05. Immunohistochemistry results showed that, the positive rate of Aurka protein in gastric cancer tissues was obviously higher than of adjacent tissues[93.9% (186/198) vs. 16.2% (32/198), P < 0.01]. The expression level of Aurka mRNA in gastric cancer tissues was significantly related with a part of the clinicopathological parameters, including TNM staging, T staging, N staging, and differentiation (P < 0.05), but there was no relationship with gender, age, location, and carcino-embryonic antigen (CEA)/CA19-9 level in peripheral blood (P > 0.05). The expression level of Aurka mRNA in Helicobacter pylori (HP)-positive gastric cancer patients was higher than that of HP-negative gastric cancer patients (15.38±1.73 vs. 7.20±1.86, t=-3.74, P < 0.01). ConclusionExpression levels of Aurka gene and its protein were both significantly higher in gastric cancer tissues than those of adjacent tissues, which suggests that Aurka might play a significant role in the procession of the formation and development of gastric cancer as an oncogene, it also suggests that Aurka can be used as a predictor of prognosis and recurrence of patients with gastric cancer.