Objective To study the expression and clinic significance of nm23 gene (product of uncleoside ciphosphate kinase) in the pancreatic adenocarcinoma tissues. MethodsSP immunohistochemical method was used to examine the expression of nm23/NDPK in 40 pancreatic adenocarcinoma and 14 normal pancreas tissues.ResultsTwentysix of 40(65%) pancreatic adenocarcinoma showed b immunoreactivity for NDP kinase, whereas 4 of 14 (28.5%) normal pancreatic tissues showed weak immunoreactivity. Significant difference was found between the two groups (P＜0.05). The nm23/NDPK expression levels in pancreatic adenocarcinoma of lower differentiation was higher than those in pancreatic adenocarcinoma of higher differentiation (10/11，90.9%; 2/8, 25%; P＜0.05). Positive staining was associated with higher incidence of lymph node metastasis (10/14, 71.4%) than negative staining (6/19,31.5%, P＜0.05). These results suggested that nm23/NDPK expression was positively associated with lymph node metastasis and aggressiveness. They also suggested that nm23/NDPK expression had negative correlation with the extent of histologic differentiation. Conclusion nm23/NDPK can serve as a marker for malignant potentiality and indicate the prognosis of pancreatic adenocarcinoma.