Objective To detect the expression and distribution of growth inhibitory hormone (SST) receptor subtypes SSTR1-3 in gastric cancer tissues and to investigate the relationship between their expression and the clinicopathological characteristics of gastric cancer. Methods Thirty-five surgically resected gastric cancer tissues and 35 benign gastric tissues were selected, and the expression of SSTR1, SSTR3 (two-step method) and SSTR2 (three-step method) were detected by immunohistochemistry, and then stained and scored according to the percentage of stained cells. The relationship between SSTR subtype expression and clinicopathological features of gastric cancer was compared. The expression rates of SSTR1, SSTR2 and SSTR3 in 35 gastric cancer tissues were 80.0% (28/35), 65.7% (23/35) and 51.4% (18/35), respectively, and the expression rates in 35 gastric benign tissues were 91.4% (32/35), The χ2 analysis showed that the expression of SSTR2 and SSTR3 in gastric cancer and benign gastric tissues were significantly different (P 0.05), but SSTR3 was found to be correlated with histological differentiation type (P=0.028). The expression of SSTR1 and 2 subtypes was not significantly correlated with tumor histological differentiation type and tumor stage, while SSTR3 was correlated with histological differentiation type. Immunohistochemistry with SSTR-specific antibodies can be used as a routine clinical test to analyze the SSTR expression status of patients and facilitate the selection of specific growth inhibitor analogues for treatment.