We constructed a lambda complementary DNA expression library from the mitoxantrone-resistant human gastric carcinoma cell line EPG85-257RNOV. The library was screened by differential hybridization (resistant cell line against non-resistant cell variant). By this procedure we found five independent cDNA clones representing one single gene that has much higher expression in the mitoxantrone-resistant cell line EPG85-257RNOV than in the non-resistant variant EPG85-257P. One of the cDNA clones (MXR7) contains a complete open reading frame (ORF) encoding a 580-amino acid polypeptide. Amino acid and nucleotide sequence analysis revealed that this gene codes the human variant of a rat intestinal development protein OCI-5.