Both gastric and intestinal phenotypic markers are known to be expressed in gastric carcinomas, irrespective of their histologic type. In the present study, the relation between gastric and intestinal phenotypic marker expression in gastric carcinomas and the recurrence pattern after surgery was examined. The phenotypic marker expression of the tumour was determined by examining the expression of human gastric mucin (HGM), MUC6, MUC2 and CD10 in 213 advanced gastric carcinomas in 213 patients who had undergone a curative resection (97 died from recurrent gastric carcinoma and 116 were alive without recurrence at the end of the follow-up period). Tumours were classified into gastric (G), gastric and intestinal mixed (GI), intestinal (I) or unclassified (UC) phenotypes according to the immunopositivity of HGM, MUC6, MUC2 and CD10 stainings. The incidence of HGM-positive tumours and MUC2-negative tumours was significantly higher in tumours with peritoneal recurrence than in tumours without recurrence (73.3%, 44 out of 60 cases vs 54.3%, 63 out of 116 (P=0.022); and 70.0%, 42 out of 60 vs 38.8%, 45 out of 116 (P=0.0002), respectively). The incidence of G-phenotype tumours was also significantly higher in tumours with peritoneal recurrence than in tumours without recurrence (58.3%, 35 out of 60 cases vs 28.4%, 33 out of 116 (P=0.0002)). The incidence of MUC2-negative tumours and CD10-positive tumours was significantly higher in tumours with haematogenous recurrence than in tumours without recurrence (62.5%, 20 out of 32 cases vs 38.8%, 45 out of 116 (P=0.028); and 43.8%, 14 out of 32 vs 23.3%, 27 out of 116 (P=0.039); respectively). Our present findings show that the gastric and intestinal phenotypic marker expression of the tumour, determined by immunohistochemical staining for HGM, MUC6, MUC2 and CD10, can be used to predict the pattern of gastric carcinoma recurrence after curative resection.