Of the 100 stage IIIa gastric cancer patients, the Cox regression model revealed that only patients with a higher density of CD33+/p-STAT1+ cells had a significantly reduced OS (hazard ratio [HR]: 4.674; 95 % CI: 2.525–8.625) and DFS (HR: 4.670; 95 % CI: 2.537–8.596) compared to the low CD33+/p-STAT1+ group. This evidence concerns the gene STAT1 and gastric cancer.