[Objective] To investigate the expression of NF-κB and IL-lra in gastric cancer, and to explore their correlation with the clinicopathological parameters and prognosis of gastric cancer (GC). [Methods] Expression of NF-κB and IL-1ra was detected by immunohistochemistry in tissue microarry of 359 cases of GC. [Results] The expression rates of NF-κB in the patients with metastasis of lymph node, TNM Ⅲ-Ⅳ stage, and poorly differentiated of histology were 80.2%, 80.0%, and 79.2%, respectively. The expression rates of IL-1ra in the patients with tumor size ≤3 cm, early stage, non-metastasis of lymph node, and TNM Ⅰ-Ⅱ stage were 61.7%, 75.0%, 66.4%, and 61.9%, respectively. The 5-year survival rate of the cases with non-expressed NF-κB was statistically higher than that of the cases with expressed NF-κB(P=0.036). The 5-year survival rate of the patients with negative expression of NF-κB and positive expression of IL-1ra was statistically higher than the others (P=0.021). [Conclusions] NF-κB is the adverse predictors of prognosis of gastric cancer. IL-1ra maybe play a protective role in early gastric cancer stage, but it is necessary to study deeply and get more evidences.