Objective: To determine p16 and cyclin D1 expression in the specimen of gastric carcinoma, atypic hyperplasia, atrophic gastritis, superficial gastritis and normal gastric mucosa. Methods: Using immunohistochemical method (ABC), the samples of 58 adenocarcinomas, 22 atypic hyperplasias, 28 atrophic gastritis,27 superficial gastritis and 15 gastric epitheliums were analyzed. Results: Positive immunostaining rate for p16 protein was the highest in normal gastric mucosa and decreased with the lesions progressing from superficial gastritis to atrophic gastritis to atypital hyperplasia and to adenocarcinoma (85%, 78.6%, 31.8%,48.3% respectively); Positive immunostaining of cyclin D1 can observed in atrophic gastritis. With the lesions progressing from atrophic gastritis to atypical hyperplasia to adenocarcinoma, its expression rate increased (17.9%, 36.4%, 53.4% respectively), and there was a significant difference between adenocarcinoma and atrophic gastritis group (P＜0.05). An interesting observation was that inverse expression between p16and cyclin D1, was shown in most of gastric cancer detected. Conclusion: It is indicated that p16 and cyclin D1 play an important role in the gastric carcinogenesis, the inverse expression between p16 and cyclin D1 suggested that there is a suppression trend in them.