P120-catenin plays an important role in cell adhesion and signalling transduction though the function of its isoforms is unclear. The aim of this study was to examine the expression of p120-catenin isoforms in lung cancer and investigate their relationship to clinicopathological factors in lung squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) and adenocarcinomas. The expression patterns of p120-catenin in lung cancer tissues and lung cancer cells were examined by p120-catenin immunofluorescence, Western blot, and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Clear and continuous red fluorescence of p120-catenin is displayed at the cell membrane of corresponding normal bronchial epithelial cells, but not in lung cancer tissues that show reduction or absence of membrane expression of p120-catenin or cytoplasmic accumulation of p120-catenin. Compared with corresponding normal lung tissues, lung cancer tissues have significantly lower levels of p120-catenin proteins (P<0.001) and mRNA (P<0.001). The isoforms 1 (120 kD) and 3 (100 kD) proteins were major isoforms of p120-catenin expressed in normal lung tissues, which were significantly reduced in lung cancer samples (P=0.001 and P<0.001, respectively). The mRNA of p120-catenin isoforms 1.2, 1.3, 2.3, 3.1 and 3.3 was detected in corresponding normal lung tissues, but was significantly absent in lung cancer samples (P<0.001 and P=0.001, respectively). Furthermore, p120-catenin isoform 1 is negatively associated--whereas p120-catenin isoform 3 is positively associated--with lymph node metastasis. We conclude that reductions of isoforms 1 and 3 may play different roles in metastatic progression of human lung cancer.