Altered micro RNA(mi RNA) associated with gastric cancer(GC) development and mi R-17 and mi R-106 b were differentially expressed in GC tissues. This study detected serum levels of mi R-17 and mi R-106 b expression in GC, benign gastric disease(BGD) and healthy controls to assess them as tumor markers for GC. Serum samples from 40 GC, 32 BGD(10 gastric ulcer, 14 gastric polyps, and 8 gastric ulcer with polyps) and 36 healthy individuals were subjected to quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction(q RT-PCR) analysis of mi R-17 and mi R-106 b expression. The data showed that the serum levels of mi R-17 and mi R-106 b were significantly reduced in healthy individuals and BGD patients compared to GC patients. There was a significant association of mi R-17 and mi R-106 b expression with age, but not with other clinicopathological features, such as gender, tumor differentiation, stage and lymphatic metastasis. Further analysis showed that, in discriminating GC patients from healthy controls, mi R-17 could yield a receiver-operating characteristic(ROC) area under the curve(AUC) of 0.879 with 80.6% sensitivity and 87.5% specificity and mi R-106 b could yield an AUC of 0.856 with 75.0% sensitivity and 92.5% specificity. The combined AUC of mi R-17 and mi R-106 b was 0.913 with 83.3% sensitivity and 87.5% specificity. Collectively, these data suggest that detection of serum mi R-17 and mi R-106 b levels should be further evaluated as novel non-invasive biomarkers in early GC detection and surveillance of disease progression. Altered micro RNA (mi RNA) associated with gastric cancer (GC) development and mi R-17 and mi R-106 b were differentially expressed in GC tissues. This study detected serum levels of mi R-17 and mi R-106 b expression in GC, benign gastric disease (BGD) and healthy controls to assess them as tumor markers for GC. Serum samples from 40 GC, 32 BGD (10 gastric ulcer, 14 gastric polyps, and 8 gastric ulcer with polyps) and 36 healthy individuals were The data showed that the serum levels of mi R-17 and mi R-106 b were significantly reduced in healthy individuals and BGD patients compared to GC patients. There was a significant association of mi R-17 and mi R-106 b expression with age, but not with other clinicopathological features, such as gender, tumor differentiation, stage and lymphatic metastasis. analysis showed that, in discriminating GC patients from healthy controls, mi R-17 could yield a receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) area under the curve (AUC) of 0.879 with 80.6% sensitivity and 87.5% specificity and mi R-106 b could yield an AUC of 0.856 with 75.0% sensitivity The combined AUC of mi R-17 and mi R-106 b was 0.913 with 83.3% sensitivity and 87.5% specificity. Collectively, these data suggests that detection of serum mi R-17 and mi R-106 b levels should be further evaluated as novel non-invasive biomarkers in early GC detection and surveillance of disease progression.