In order to investigate the prognostic value of P16 protein in the prediction for patient with pancreatic carcinoma, we examined the expression of P16 protein in 50 cases of pancreatic carcinoma by immunohistochemical staining. The results showed that P16 protein positive rate was 56% (28/50) and the immunoreaction was in the cytoplasm of cancer cell. The expression of P16 protein did not correlate with histological grade, but with lymph node metastasis (P < 0.05). Our results indicate that P16 protein expression may be a promising predictor for the prognosis of patients with pancreatic carcinoma, i.e. carcinoma being positive for P16 protein may have a better prognosis than the negative one.