Cancer is one of the most deadly diseases in the world. Gastric cancer is one of the most commonly seen digestive system tumors at present. Both of its morbidity and mortality remain high. Most of the patients died of advanced gastric cancer

and lost the chance of radical surgical treatment

but the prognosis of non-operative treatment was poor. Basic research on gastric cancer is expected to find an effective method for the treatment of gastric cancer and prolong the survival time of patients. Survivin gene is the strongest-ever apoptosis suppressor gene. It belongs to the family of inhibitor of apoptosis protein (IAP). The expression of Survivin is absent in normal gastric mucosa

and the gastric cancer cell line is overexpressed. Survivin gene has a unique molecular structure and biological function

and plays an important role in inhibiting cell apoptosis

regulating cell cycle

and participating in the pilot process of angiopoiesis. A large number of studies have indicated the relationship between Survivin gene and gastric cancer

suggesting that it may be a new potential marker for diagnosis of gastric cancer

and a detection indicator for gastric cancer. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has a certain regulatory effect on this gene during inducing apoptosis of gastric cancer cells

which is bound to bring new hope

and opened up a new path for the treatment of tumor. In this paper

the biological characteristics of Survivin and its current research progress in gene therapy and clinical application of gastric cancer were reviewed by reference to literatures at home and abroad

in order to summarize the effect of Survivin in the pathogenesis of gastric cancer and the research progress of TCM and Western medicine in diagnosis and treatment.