Objective:To evaluate whether the presence of K-ras gene mutations is a useful tumor-response marker in patients with locally advanced rectal cancer treated with preoperative chemoradiotherapy. Methods:46 patients with locally advanced rectal cancer who were treated with preoperative chemoradiotherapy were enrolled. DNA was isolated from paraffin-embedded tissues before chemoradiotherapy amplified by PCR,and then sequenced in order to detect K-ras mutations in codons 12,13. Post-operative speci-mens were classified according to the Dwork’s tumor regression grading (TRG). Good tumor regression was defined as TRG 2+3+4,insignificant tumor regression as TRG 0+1. Results:DNA was successfully extracted from 43 patients,K-ras mutation occured in 15 patients(34.9%),of which mutation in codon 12 occurred in 11 patients(73.3%),and mutation in,codon 13 occurred in 4 patients (26.7%). 29 (67.4%) patients were graded as TRG 2+3+4,14(32.6%)as TRG 0+1. Pathologic response rates in K-ras gene muta-tion group and wild group were 66.7% and 67.8%,respectively,with no significant difference between two groups (P=0.793). Con-clusions:There is no difference in the degree of tumor pathological regression after preoperative chemoradiotherapy for rectal cancer in the different K-ras genotypes,K-ras mutation status does not predict response to preoperative chemoradiotherapy.