ObjectiveTo explore the expression of Cryab in human colorectal cancer tissue and its clinical significances. MethodsTen pairs of colorectal cancer specimens of early recurrence and late recurrence in the First Hospital of Lanzhou University were collected, the Cryab mRNA expression was detected by RT-PCR. The colorectal cancer tissues and corresponding adjacent tissues of 100 patients underwent radical resection from January 2005 to December 2008 in the Donggang Branch of The First Hospital and The First Hospital of Lanzhou University were collected, the expression of Cryab protein in the colorectal cancer tissues and corresponding adjacent tissues of 100 patients with colorectal cancer were detected by immunohistochemistry SP technique. The relation between the expression of Cryab protein and the age, gender, number of tumors, tumor size, TNM stage, degree of differentiation, lymph node metastasis, or depth of invasion of the patients was analyzed. The influence of Cryab expression on prognosis of patients with colorectal cancer was evaluated by univariate and multivariate analysis. Results①The expression of Cryab mRNA in the colorectal cancer tissues with early recurrence was significantly higher than that in the colorectal cancer tissues with late recurrence (P < 0.05).②The expression of Cryab protein in the colorectal cancer tissues was significantly higher than that in the corresponding adjacent tissues (P < 0.05).③The over-expression of Cryab protein in the colorectal cancer tissues was correlated with the tumor size, degree of differentiation, lymph node metastasis, or TNM stages (P < 0.05), but not correlated with the age, sex, and number of tumors (P > 0.05).④The lymph node metastasis and expression of Cryab protein were the independent risk factors for the prognosis of patients with colorectal cancer.⑤The overall survival and disease free survival of patients with high-expression of Cryab protein were significantly lower than those in the patients with lower-expression of Cryab protein. ConclusionsThe over-expression of Cryab is closely related to the invasion and progression of colorectal cancer, they might be together involved in the progression of colorectal cancer. Cryab might be a good marker for monitoring the malignant degree and the prognosis of colorectal cancer.