Cellular adhesion molecules might be used as markers in diagnosis and prognosis in some types of malignant tumors. The purpose of this study was to determine the clinical significance of the serum levels of activated leukocyte cell adhesion molecule-1 (ALCAM) and intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) in gastric cancer (GC) patients. Fifty-eight GC patients and 20 age- and sex-matched healthy controls were enrolled into this study. Pretreatment serum markers were determined by the solid-phase sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The median age at diagnosis was 59.5 years (range 32–82 years). Tumor localizations of the majority of the patients were antrum (n = 42, 72.4%) and tumor histopathologies of the majority of the patients were diffuse (n = 43, 74.1%). The majority of the patients had stage IV disease (n = 41, 70.7%). Thirty six (62.1%) patients had lymph node involvement. The median follow-up time was 66 months (range 1–97.2 months). At the end of the observation period, 26 patients (44.8%) were dead. The median survival for all patients was 21.4 ± 5 months (%95 CI, 11.5–31.3). The 1-year survival rates were 66.2%.

The baseline serum ALCAM levels of the patients were significantly higher than those of the controls (p = 0.001). There was no significant difference in the serum levels of ICAM-1 between the patients and controls (p = 0.232). No significant correlation was detected between the levels of the serum markers and other clinical parameters (p > 0.05). Tumor localization (p = 0.03), histopathology (p = 0.05), and response to chemotherapy (p = 0.003) had prognostic factors on survival. Neither serum ALCAM levels nor serum ICAM-1 levels were identified to have a prognostic role on overall survival (ICAM-1 p = 0.6, ALCAM p = 0.25). In conclusion, serum levels of ALCAM were found to have diagnostic value in GC patients.