When 210 gastric cancer patients were divided into three groups based on the expression of p53 and MMP-7 (G0 group: negative for both p53 and MMP-7, n = 69, G1 group: positive for either p53 or MMP-7, n = 97, G2 group: positive for both of the molecules, n = 44), G2 group demonstrated significantly higher recurrence rate (59 %) compared to 38 % in G0 (p = 0.047). The gene discussed is TP53; the disease is gastric cancer.