Abstract: Objective To investigate the expression of Krüppel-like factor 17 (KLF17) in colorectal cancer tissue and its correlation with patients' clinicopathologic features and prognosis. Methods Expression of KLF17 was examined by immunohistochemical staining of paraffin-embedded tumor specimens from 128 colorectal cancer patients who underwent curative surgery at The First Hospital of Wuhan City. Survival curves were described by Kaplan-Meier method. Univariate and multivariate analysis were performed with Cox proportional hazard model. Results Expression of KLF17 in tumor cells was significantly downregulated in 83 patients. Low expression of KLF17 was strongly correlated with pN stage (P=0.012). Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed that patients with low KLF17 expression had lower 5-year disease-free survival and 5-year overall survival rates (46.3% and 49.3%) than those with high KLF17 expression(78.3% and 82.0%) (all P=0.001). Univariate and multivariate analysis showed that KLF17 expression, preoperative obstruction, tumor differentiation and pN stage were independent factors for both disease-free survival and overall survival of colorectal cancer patients (all P＜0.05). Conclusion Low expression of KLF17 in colorectal cancer cells is correlated with pN stage and is an independent predictor for poor survival of colorectal cancer patients.