Abstract: Objective To investigate the expression of DcR3 and correlation between DcR3 and prognosis in pancreatic carcinoma. Methods DcR3 protein expressions in tissues and sera were respectively detected by i mmunohistochemistry(IHC) and ELISA. Correlations between DcR3 expression and prognosis were analyzed. Results DcR3 staining positive cells were located in cytoplasm. The positive rate of DcR3 in pancreatic carcinoma tissues was 50 % (25/50) higher than that in non-cancerous tissues was (24%, 12/50), (P < 0.05). The level of DcR3 in serum of pancreatic carcinoma before operation was （73.71±18.26）pg/ml, showing a signifi cant difference compared to cystadenoma(7.96±1.25) pg/ml (P<0.01),and signifi cantly decreased after operation (19.76±4.52) pg/ml, P < 0.01.The median survival time of these patients was 27.4 months. Patients with higher levels of DcR3 had signifi cantly shorter survival time than those with lower levels of DcR3(P ＜0.05). The cox regression analysis showed tumor size, TNM stage, lymph node metastasis, and levels of DcR3 were associated with survival. Conclusions DcR3 protein was over-expressed in tissues and sera of pancreatic carcinoma. DcR3 in serum should be considered as a novel parameter for clinical diagnosis and prognostic judgement in pancreatic carcinoma.