Recent evidence indicates that ILK expression is increased in various tumours, including prostate cancer, colon cancer, gastric cancer, ovarian cancer, Ewing's sarcoma, melanoma and breast cancer (Chung et al, 1998; Persad et al, 2000; Graff et al, 2001; Ito et al, 2003; Zellweger et al, 2005; Bravou et al, 2006; Rosano et al, 2006; Kim et al, 2007; Wong et al, 2007; Assi et al, 2008). This evidence concerns the gene ILK and gastric cancer.