Objective To establish a mouse model of gastric cancer metastasis derived from clinical tumor specimens, and to provide individualized animal models for the metastasis of gastric cancer. Methods A patient-derived xenograft (PDX) model was established by subcutaneous transplantation of fresh clinical gastric cancer specimens into nude mice. Then, the tumor tissue from the PDX model was transplanted into the muscle layer of mouse stomach. The physical status of these nude mice was observed continuously. The occurrence of tumor metastasis was detected by near-infrared fluorescence(NIRF) optical imaging in vivo. After dissecting the tumor-bearing mice, lung metastatic lesions were further subcutaneously transplanted into nude mice to obtain tumors. The histopathological structures of the primary and metastatic tumors were observed by HE staining, and the genetic characteristics were analyzed using STR tests. Furthermore, the expression of metastasis-related genes was detected by PCR-Array analysis. Results A PDX model of gastric cancer is successfully established, and the histopathological characteristics of tumors in the nude mice were basically consistent with those of the patients. Metastatic lesions in the lung and liver were found in the mouse No.C19751 following orthotopic gastric transplantation. Apparent tumors were formed after subcutaneous transplantation of lung metastatic lesions, and STR analysis showed that the primary tumors well maintained the genetic characteristics of the lung metastatic tumors. The PCRArray result demonstrated that the expressions of CXCL12, IGF1 and MMP2 in metastatic tumors were significantly upregulated compared with that in the primary tumors. Conclusions A PDX metastasis model of gastric cancer is successfully established in nude mice by xenografting clinical tumor specimens, providing an appropriate individualized metastasis model for research on gastric cancer.