Objective To study roles of GRP78 and GRP94 in tumorigenesis and progression of colorectal carcinomas (CRC).Methods Colorectal carcinoma tissues of 124 cases were studied for GRP78 and GRP94 proteins by immunohistochemistry and Western blotting.The correlations among the expression of proteins and clinicopathologic parameters and overall survival of CRC were analyzed using univariate and Cox regression analyses.Results The overexpression of GRP78 and GRP94 was detected in the cytoplasms or plasma membrane of the tumor cells.They were positively correlated with tumor differentiation,staging,lymph node metastasis and remote metastasis.Survival analysis showed that overexpression of both proteins was associated with poor outcome of CRC ( P =0.025,P =0.010,respectively).Cox regression analysis demonstrated that the expression of GRP94 was an independent poor prognostic factor for CRC.Conclusions Up-regulated expression of GRP78 and GRP94 was possibly involved in the pathogenesis,growth,invasion and metastasis of colorectal carcinomas.GRP78 and GRP94could be seen as a marker for the aggressive behavior and poor prognosis in colorectal carcinomas.