ABSTRACT. We investigated the influence of the c.1517G>C genetic variant in the X-ray repair complementing group 1 gene (XRCC1) on pancreatic cancer (PC) susceptibility in Chinese patients. A total of 390 PC patients and 392 controls were enrolled in this case-control study. The genotypes of c.1517G>C genetic variants were determined using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) analysis. Our findings suggested that the allele and genotype frequencies in PC patients were significantly different from those in cancer-free controls. The CC genotype was associated with an increased risk of PC compared to the wild-type GG genotype (odds ratio = 2.43, 95% confidence interval 1.43-4.13, c 2 = 11.19, P = 0.001). The C allele may contribute to the development of PC (C vs G, odds ratio = 1.32, 95% confidence interval 1.06-1.64, c 2 = 6.25, P = 0.012). Results from this study indicate that the c.1517G>C genetic variant of the XRCC1 gene is significantly associated with PC