We detect the expression of epidermal growth factor (EGF) and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) in 104 specimens of gastric cancer by avidin biotin-peroxides complex technique (ABC). The positive rates of EGF, EGFR and synchronous EGF and EGFR were 35.6%, 42.3%, 30.8% respectively. The positive expression of EGF and EGFR to gastric cancer tissue was inclined to occur in patients who were in advanced stages, of poorly-differentiated types, Borrmann III, IV types, scirrhous type, seroinvasive type or lymph node metastasic types. The survival rates at 1, 3, 5 years after gastrectomy in the patients with expression of EGF were significantly lower than the survival rates of the patients with negative expression (P < 0.05). The patients with synchronous expression of EGF and EGFR had the worst prognosis. After gastrectomy, all of them died within 4 years. It is indicated that EGF and EGFR could serve as biological indicators of gastric cancer malignancy and an index for evaluating, the prognosis of the patients with gastric cancer.