In the present study, we detect further ADAM9 expression at the protein level in surgically resected stage I NSCLC, attempting to confirm the findings of highly expressed ADAM9 in NSCLC, and to further evaluate its clinical significance, especially with regard to predicting the prognosis of resected stage I NSCLC (abstract was published at the 14th World Conference on Lung Cancer, Amsterdam, 2011) (17). This evidence concerns the gene ADAM9 and lung cancer.