AIM: To study adhesion capacity and CD44 expression of human gastric adenocarcinoma MKN45 cells at different stages of a first cell cycle.METHODS: MKN45 cells were synchronized by aphidicolin and assayed for adhesion to an endothelial cell (HUVEC)monolayer. Surface expression of CD44 and CD44 splice variants on MKN45 cells was evaluated by flow cytometry.Functional relevance of CD44 adhesion receptors was investigated by blocking studies using anti CD44 monoclonal antibodies or by hyaluronan digestion.RESULTS: Adhesion of MKN45 to HUVEC was increased during G2/M transit, after which adhesion returned to baseline levels with cell cycle completion. In parallel, CD44splice variants CD44v4, CD44v5, and CD44v7 were all upregulated on MKN45 during cell cycle progression with a maximum effect in G2/M. The function of CD44 surface receptors was assessed with specific receptor blocking monodonal antibodies or removal of hyaluronan by digestion with hyaluronidase. Both strategies inhibited tumor cell adhesion to HUVEC by nearly 50%, which indicates that MKN45-HUVEC-interaction is CD44 dependent.CONCLUSION: CD44 expression level is linked to the cell cycle in gastrointestinal tumor cells, which in turn leads to cell cyde dependent alterations of their adhesion behaviour to endothelium.