The reversion-inducing cysteine-rich protein with Kazal motifs (RECK) gene was originally identified as a transformation suppressor gene that is widely expressed in normal tissues. In tumor tissues, RECK expression levels are significantly reduced, and the downregulation of RECK has been implicated in tumors that are more aggressive with a poor prognosis. In the present study, RECK expression in peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL; n=82) was examined using immunohistochemistry, and its correlation with clinicopathological factors was analyzed. According to the proportion of positively-stained cells and the staining intensity (SI), the patients were categorized into RECK-negative or RECK-positive groups. RECK expression was observed in 30 of the 82 patients (36.6%). The 3-year survival rate of the patients with RECK-positive tumors (65.5%) was significantly high compared with that of the patients with RECK-negative tumors (20.3%; P=0.046). Reduced RECK expression was found to be significantly correlated with extranodal lymphomatous involvement (P=0.012). The survival analysis showed that RECK-negative expression was an independent and significant factor for predicting a poor prognosis. RECK status is a useful prognostic factor for assessing the biological behavior in PTCL.