Abstract: Objective 　To investigate the expression level and clinic pathological significance of bcl-xl and bcl-2 in non2small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) . Methods 　The immunohistochemist ry was used to determine the expression of bcl-xl and bcl-2 in 10 normal bronchial epithelium, 49 primary NSCLC and 9 paired lymph node metastases. Results 　The immunointensity of bcl2xl in NSCLC was higher than that in normal bronchial epithelium ( P < 0. 05) . The immunointensity of bcl-xl and bcl-2 in NSCLC with lymph node metastasis were significantly higher than that without lymph node metastasis ( P < 0. 01) .The expression were not correlated between bcl-xl and bcl-2. Conclusion 　The up-regulation of bcl-xl was probably related to the tumor genesis of NSCLC. The overexpression of bcl-xl and bcl-2 may play an important role in the lymph node metastasis of NSCLC. There was no correlation between bcl-xl and bcl-2 in NSCLC.