p53 expressian in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded samples of 55 patients with gastric carcinoma, who underwent gastrectomy, was analyzed immunohistochemically with DO-7, a monoclonal antibody. In 21 of 55 tumors (38.2%), nuclear immunoreactivity for the p53 protein was detected. There was no correlation with depth of tumor invasion, lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis, stage of cancer or histologic type. p53 expression was not correlated with prognosis in survival analysis. These results showed that the p53 protein expression can not be used as a prognostic indicator in gastric carcinoma.