【Abstract】ObjectiveTo investigate the role of apoptosis-related gene survivin, caspase-3 and cyclin-B1 in gastric carcinoma by detecting the expressions of survivin, caspase-3 and cyclin-B1 in gastric carcinoma. Methods The expressions of survivin mRNA, caspase-3 mRNA and cyclin-B1 mRNA were determined by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) method in 30 gastric carcinoma specimens and 10 normal gastric tissue specimens. ResultsThe positive expression rate of survivin mRNA in 30 gastric carcinoma specimens was 66.7%(20/30). While 10 normal gastric tissue specimens did not express survivin mRNA. Although all of 30 gastric carcinoma tissues and 10 normal gastric tissues expressed caspase-3 mRNA and cyclin-B1 mRNA, the expressions of caspase-3 and cyclin-B1 in 20 survivin-positive gastric carcinoma tissues were significantly lower than those of 10 survivin-negative gastric carcinoma tissues (P＜0.01) and 10 normal gastric tissues (P＜0.01). The expressions of caspase-3 mRNA and cyclinB1 mRNA in 10 survivin-negative gastric carcinoma tissues were significantly lower than those of 10 normal gastric tissues (P＜0.01). And in gastric carcinoma tissues the expression of survivin mRNA was negatively related with that of caspase-3 mRNA （r=-0.923,P＜0.01） and cyclin-B1 mRNA (r=-0.886,P＜0.01), the expression of caspase-3 mRNA was positively related with that of cyclin-B1 mRNA (r=0.892, P＜0.01). Conclusionsurvivin enhances gastric tumorigenesis, caspase-3 and cyclin-B1 inhibit gastric tumorigenesis.