Abstract: Objective To investigate the expression and significance of growth differentiation factor 11 (GDF11) in pancreatic cancer. Methods Pancreatic cancer and corresponding paracancerous tissues in 28 patients who underwent pancreatectomy in the No.2 department of hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgical oncology in Chinese PLA General Hospital from December 2016 to March 2017, and another 63 pairs of pancreatic cancer and corresponding paracancerous tissues from tissue microarray of Shanghai Outdo Biotech Company were collected. The mRNA expression levels in 28 pairs of pancreatic cancer and corresponding paracancerous tissues were detected by real-time quantitative PCR, and the expression of GDF11 protein in 91 pairs (including 28 pairs of self-picking and 63 pairs in the tissue microarray) of pancreatic cancer and corresponding paracancerous tissues was detected by immunohistochemistry.Moreover, the relationship between GDF11 protein expression and clinicopathological parameters was analyzed. Results The mRNA level of GDF11 was significantly higher in the paracancerous tissues than in the cancer tissues (P=0.002 5). The results of immunohistochemistry showed that the high expression rate of GDF11 protein in pancreatic cancer tissues was significantly lower than that in adjacent normal tissues (40.7% vs 71.4%, P< 0.001). The protein expression levels of GDF11 showed no significant difference between two groups in age, gender, histological staging and metastasis, while the higher expressions of GDF11 were associated with less perineural invasion (P=0.004), lower T stage (P=0.003) and lower N stage (P=0.018). Conclusion The expression of GDF11 is down-regulated in pancreatic cancer and elevated expression of GDF11 may suppress the development of pancreatic cancer.